Government spending more than planned to help the housing crisis

With the government paying about €260 million in the first half of 2017 above the previous first half of 2016, it means the government is trying to throw money at helping the housing crisis.

The Department of Housing has spent around €312 million during this time. The rapid increase is said to be in main part because of the Government’s housing programme.

The Minister of State from the Department of Finance, Patrick O’Donovan has responded that the impact from the increased government spending has already been seen through the amount of commencement notices being filed. Since a commencement notice has to be filed when someone has begun construction of a new home it is a good indicator of the health of the housing market. The previous 12 months from May, commencement notices have amounted to 15,579. This is up 42 percent of the previous twelve month period.

Recently there has been a housing shortage in Ireland that has taken over the housing market. It is making it harder to obtain a house and a mortgage.

The amount of total pre-approved …

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The most expensive places to buy in Ireland

The most expensive property sold in 2017?

€8.4 million was paid for a house in Fintragh of Shrewsbury Road according to the Daft.ie. Five streets have had transactions of €3 million or more in the last 18 months: Shrewsbury Road, Ailesbury Road, Temple Gardens, off of Palmerston Road in Dublin and Westminster Road in Foxrock.

Only one percent of all homes in Ireland are worth €1 million and over according to the Property Price Register.

Highest number of over a million home transactions is Herbert Park in Ballsbridge.

Total spent on housing since 2016?

€800 million was spend on housing alone since 2016 according to the Property Price Register. That averages around €12 million every week paid for in housing. The average price for a house the first quarter of 2017 was €230,000.

Ten years ago, however, the average home was worth around €370,000. After the crash, the average price of a home was around €165,000 five years ago.

Total of all Ireland’s Property worth?

If you would combine all the valuations of all the properties in Ireland it will …

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An increase of housing demand for millennials in the US

Real estate is on millennials to do list despite the stalled wage growth and housing market fears in the United States.

The National Association of Realtors show that the amount of first-time home buyers increased 3 percent year-over-year. They made up of 33 percent of the home mortgage market in May.

First-time home buyers can be categorized as someone who has not owned a home in the past three years.

Fannie Mae statistics shows that first-time home buyers make up of 42 percent of all home mortgages from January to April which is up 2 percent from 2016.

As interest amongst the millennials is rising in home buying, whether or not that will be a good idea is at question. The Federal Reserve just raised their interest rates which will affect the millennials in search for a …

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A new tax on rents over €2,500

This year a new tax bill in Dublin was introduced that has not been welcome amongst the public. As we see rents rapidly increasing in Dublin, a 1 percent stamp duty on rents over €2,500 becomes ever more pertinent than before.

 

This 1 percent duty was initially set at around €1,500 month. It was then raised to €2,500 after the financial crisis to help relieve some of the pressure on tenants.

 

However, it has now came to that level where a more massive amount of people are hitting this €2,500 a month target.

 

With housing rates increasing rapidly, an analysis by Goodbody Stockbrokers claimed around 55 percent of three-bedroom Dublin homes are above this €2,500 level on the Daft.ie. A third of all these properties are in the same area.

 

What does this mean for many families?

On …

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If the Help-to-Buy scheme is cut it will only worsen the housing crisis

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) claims that if the Help-to-Buy scheme is in fact removed it will only worsen our housing crisis.

The CIF, an industry lobby group, said it will take time for the scheme to do what it is intended for. The scheme has expanded the first-time buyer market so banks will start lending to builders more to construct starter homes.

The Help-to-Buy scheme can help first-time buyers get a tax rebate of up to €20,000. The public has blamed this scheme for playing a part in the rising house prices this past year.

The Help-to-Buy scheme apparently has made residential building in key locations possible from the first-time buyers being assisted. The CIF director general, Tom Parlon, says that this scheme has significantly helped in the growth of residential construction. Since more first-time buyers can purchase a home, building starter homes becomes a more enticing move for builders.

The Central Statistics Office published on Tuesday a report saying that housing prices grew 2.2 percent last month. This is the largest monthly increase since last July.

In Dublin, …

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A construction agency has seen a boom in business since the Help-to-Buy scheme

Abbey, a property developer, has high hopes for the Irish housing market.

They are seeing huge gains as the house prices keep increasing. They are especially reaping the benefits from the Help-to-Buy scheme. That’s why they are against the review of the scheme.

The intention of the Help-to-Buy scheme was to encourage first-time buyers and to speed up new supply of houses. It can give first-time buyers up to €20,000 in tax rebates. The scheme, instead, has apparently increased home values than raise supply of new homes. This has raised concern for the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, which brought up the review of the scheme.

 

The Central Statistics Office published on Tuesday that the Irish housing prices went up by 11.9 percent in May from the previous 12 months, driven by a 12.8 percent increase outside of Dublin.

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Bank of Ireland restructures their equity

Over the weekend, Bank of Ireland went through some major changes to their structure.

This is needed to avoid a future bail out. Fitch, one of the world’s top three credit ratings firm, said the Irish banking system had around 15 percent of non-performing loans. This is about three times the average amount of the European Union countries.

Despite this, Fitch still gave Ireland a rating of A because of the potential economic growth. They gave Ireland this rating on Friday because the economy is supposed to grow 3.5 percent this year which makes Ireland one of the top growers from the EU area for the third consecutive year.

Even with this high rating, Fitch warns Irish banks that this massive amount of problem loans is weighing the country’s rating down.

Bank of Ireland responds by restructuring their equity to protect Ireland if a crisis occurs. This new system protects the Irish bank accounts and minimizes taxpayer bailout.

How it works?

Bank of Ireland will issue two types of equity: senior and junior. This puts the liability of crisis to …

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Rate of expansion in construction activity slowed in June

In June, the rate of expansion in construction activity slowed in Ireland. The civil engineering division had a slight decrease while the housing and commercial divisions remained strong.

The latest Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed construction activity went from 63.6 percent in May down to 58.2 percent in June. However, if it is above 50 percent then that means the sector is growing.

Housing activity sector of the index went from 69.2 percent in May to 59.5 percent in June. Commercial activity reads at 60.8 percent in June from 65.2 percent in May. Civil engineering dropping from 51.8 percent in May to 48.4 percent in June.

Despite the sector growing, it still has not hit the target level of 25,000 new housing units every year, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute. Last year, the Department of Housing estimated a total of …

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Should there be a tax on hoarding land?

There is evidence for property owners hoarding land because there is an expectation for rising house prices in the future. However, this only contributes to the housing shortage crisis. If the budget for 2018 included such a tax for property owners who choose to hoard land, it will give a financial incentive to build on the land now.

Property taxes are supposed to reflect the market value on the properties but all the valuations have been halted leaving a lot of room for political unrest.

Increasing the property tax, according to John Fitzgerald from the Irish Times, will give the government extra proceeds to fund for housing. This will give incentive to better utilize properties and give extra cash to the government to help out with the housing shortage.

It will also allow people with homes help the …

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Dublin puts blame on Airbnb… again

The new protocol is whatever the issue is blame it on Airbnb.

Airbnb is being blamed for causing the housing crisis in Dublin. Critics are saying that the up and coming ‘hip’ way to travel site is causing apartments and houses that would be long-term let into short-time let. The site apparently contributing to Ireland’s housing shortage by taking housing off the market.

Policymakers and businesses has started a trend worldwide of blaming this short-term rental site for economic and societal problems with little evidence to back it up, claims Mark Paul from the Irish Times.

Ireland is not the only blaming Airbnb, New York has hotels (Airbnb’s competition) lobbying politicians left and right. Italy accused Airbnb of turning the country into a theme park.

Such problems are linked to issues in Venice from Airbnb, supposedly. With landlords making more money in a week from travelers compared to long-term lets in a month; therefore, the landlords are increasingly turning their properties into Airbnb listings. Venice being such a small city, there is not many places to rent in the first …

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