Government urgently needs to change tack on housing policy
New figures show that home ownership in Ireland has become increasingly out of reach for prospective purchasers, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan.
Deputy O’Callaghan, who is the party’s Housing spokesperson, said:
“The latest report from Myhome.ie paints a bleak picture for house-hunters as we enter 2023, with a standard home, at €370,000, costing 7.7 times the average annual income. This is the highest multiple recorded since 2009.
“The report, which covers the last three months of 2022, found that the median asking price for a home nationally is now €330,000, with the figure for Dublin a staggering €436,000.
“Given the prohibitive cost of home ownership, it is clear we cannot just rely on the property market to solve the housing crisis.
“It is hard to understand how hundreds of millions of euros earmarked for new local authority homes last year were allocated elsewhere. While the Government promised 9,000 new build social homes in 2022, recently published figures show that only 2,706 were completed by the end of September.
“The Government needs to urgently change tack on its housing policy. The Minister must immediately act to increase the supply of social, cost rental and affordable purchase homes, and tackle delivery bottlenecks when it comes to land and financing.
“In addition, the scandalous waste of vacant homes must be confronted head on with the introduction of a punitive tax to heavily discourage leaving homes empty.”
January 3, 2023