The Minister for Housing must implement emergency measures to prevent the housing disaster from robbing any more young people of their futures here, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.
Deputy Hearne said:
“The social contract has been broken for those who dream of owning a home. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been put on hold as they try to navigate a broken housing market, unable to put down roots and start a family.
“The average age of a homebuyer in Ireland is now 40 years old. Those with aspirations of having kids are facing incredible uncertainty when it comes to when they will have the means to do so, where they’ll be raised, and what it will cost.
“Today’s MyHome annual asking price inflation for properties nationally rose to 5% in the second quarter of this year – homes across Ireland sold for an average of 7-8% above their asking price in May. Just when things seem like they cannot possibly get more unaffordable, the housing crisis continues to deteriorate.
“The median price of a home purchased in the 12 months to April was just under €400,000, and just under €500,000 in Dublin. This is in stark comparison to the second quarter of 2020, when the median home price stood at €245,000.
“This Government has overseen an increase of 60% in house prices since then. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policies have done nothing but add €150,000 to the asking price of the median dwelling, making it an impossibility for many young families to own a home.
“In Dublin, things are unspeakably worse. Just 4% of newly-built homes were sold in Dublin City last year. Of the 4,521 houses and apartments brought on stream last year, there were just 208 sold on the private market. Cork saw a remarkable 2% of newly-built homes sold last year: 30 sales out of 1,499 houses and apartments.
“There were less than 1,000 directly-delivered affordable purchase homes by local authorities last year, and not one of them was in Dublin where the crisis is at its worst.
“All of this has led to record levels of homelessness, emergency accommodation bursting at the seams, and a generation of trapped renters being evicted into emigration. There’s been a 40% increase in Irish people emigrating since 2020, up from 35% last year. This figure has increased every year since 2020.
“The Government must commit to emergency measures to stop this crisis from ruining further lives. It must start by immediately introducing a three-year ban on no-fault evictions for all tenancies, and a blanket ban on rent increases, before housing becomes even less attainable.”
July 7th, 2026