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Ireland’s Long Run Social Development and Vulnerabilitythan in 1995 (2,960). The difference in the two trends is reflected inthe decrease in the ratio of local authority to private houses from1:10.6 in 1995 to 1:12.0 in 2000. The decrease in the ratio of localauthority to private housing is more marked in housing completionsfrom 1:6.9 in 1995 to 1:14.6 in 2000. 10Other housing indicators adopted by NESC in order to measureprogress are local authority waiting lists and housing affordability.The meaning of ‘affordability’, or how it is measured, is anunresolved issue. Affordability is generally taken to measure somegiven standard of housing or accommodation that can be securedwithout placing an undue financial burden on the household’sincome. The NESC recognises that “an accurate affordability indexcovering all tenures, incorporating maintenance as well as purchaseprice and rents is probably the most desirable of all housingindicators. Such an affordability index is not available at presentand hence the proxy indicator used gives an indication of thepurchase affordability” (2002b: 256). Using the ratio of averagehouse price to the average industrial wage as an indicator of housingaffordability, data shows that the ratio of the average price of newhouses to average industrial earnings increased from 4.33 in 1990 to5.29 in 1997 and to 7.40 in 2000. The corresponding figures for theDublin area are 5.34, 6.32 and 9.70, with figures for second handhouses showing an even more dramatic fall in affordability (NESC,2002b: 47). This figure is mainly indicative of house prices. It doesnot take into account the decrease in interest rates and reductions inincome tax which have taken place and which have affectedmortgage repayment levels.Settlement: Housing PatternsWhile the housing stock (increasingly private) expanded rapidly,there was a significant divergence between the spatial pattern of theexpansion of the housing stock and the growth of employment. This10. Voluntary housing completions totalled 951 in 2000 (0.25 per 1,000population, the figure in 1995 was 1,011, or 0.28 per thousand population(NESC, 2002a:78). Preliminary data for 2001 indicate that the total number ofvoluntary housing completions was 1,200 in 2001.83