asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the monthly mortgage repayment payable by an owner-occupier purchasing a £10,000 house in February 1974 with a 90 per cent. mortgage; what would be the repayments for a purchaser buying the same house at present; and how the repayments of each compare with average earnings at the time of purchasing the houses.

Monthly repayments on a new 25-year repayment mortgage of £9,000 in February 1974 would have been £89·10 gross or £64·35 net of tax at the basic rate of 30 per cent., and at a mortgage interest rate of 11 per cent. House prices have risen, on average, by about 40 per cent. over that period and a house purchased for £10,000 in February 1974 might now cost £14,000. Repayments on a 90 per cent. morgtgage—i.e. £12,500—would be £112·63 gross, or £78·09 net of tax at the basic rate of 34 per cent. and at a mortgage interest rate of 9·75 per cent.Average annual earnings in the first quarter of 1974 were £2,329 and in the first quarter of 1978 £4,377.