Government policies contributing to house price increases
Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Arthur Morgan TD has slammed the failure of
the
Government to take any action whatsoever since taking power to tackle
house
price increases. He also demanded the end of policies and incentives
that
were contributing to the pricing of first time buyers out of the
housing
market.
Speaking today he said, “The news in today’s papers that first time buyers
are
being priced out of Dublin comes as no surprise to Dubliners. For a
number
of years now young Dubliners have been forced out of the communities
they
have grown up in to find houses they can afford outside of the
capital.
They have been forced onto the ever-growing commuter belts in
Louth,
Meath and Kildare to the north and west and as far south as Wexford
and
Waterford. This has serious social consequences and is detrimental to
communities
across Dublin.
“The fact that house prices in the capital have
risen by almost 300% since
1996 and the number of households on the
national housing list has almost
doubled in that time can only
be attributed to the failure of the
Government
to make any serious attempt to resolve the problem of ever
increasing
house prices. Though the percentage increases may have slowed
down,
we are still seeing huge increases in monetary terms which far
outstrip
increases in salaries and wages. The advent of 100% mortgages
will
do nothing to help this situation – rather it will facilitate
dangerous
over borrowing which could have drastic consequences for economy
as a
whole if the house price bubble bursts.
“Why is the Government
doing nothing to tackle the root causes of housing
affordability
problems? Why do we still have Section 23 tax relief when it
is
contributing to house price increases and making it near impossible for
first
time buyers to secure housing as they have to compete with investors
–
this is particularly relevant to apartments in the Dublin City area?
Every
day the Government stalls on the abolition of these relief’s house
prices
are pushed up and beyond the reach of ordinary Dubliners in
particular.
The Minister of state with responsibility for Housing Noel
Ahern
T.D. is still twiddling his thumbs denying the existence of a crisis
that
is affecting a large proportion of the population.” ENDS