Report: Irish prefer houses to flats

A new report this week on housing from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, shows that Irish people are far less likely to live in flats than any of their European neighbours.

In the EU overall, an average of 42% of the population live in flats, compared to 3.1% in Ireland.

Tim Allen of Eurostat in Luxembourg has said Irish people are "out of kilter" with the rest of Europe.

He said, as a nation, Irish people prefer to live in a house than reside in a flat or in an apartment.