Understanding the Irish Housing Crisis

A housing crisis can be detrimental to the economy of a country. A housing crisis occurs when the availability of affordable housing is rare and you need a higher income to be able to afford a place to live.

 

A housing crisis happens due to a change in supply and demand for real estate. If there are a lot of houses with few people looking, housing prices will drop. Likewise if there are lots of people looking for houses with few properties available prices will go up.

 

The problem with this system is the availability of housing does not have to do with salaries in the area, so when housing prices go up too much and the income does not change it creates a crisis.

 

Digital Mortgages can help people get out of the expensive rental market, allowing them to own property.

 

Why There’s a Crisis

 

Housing is a big part of a person’s monthly budget. For the typical person housing should account for about 35% of their monthly income.

 

When looking at the …

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“Covid Effect” continues to drive up Irish house prices

The sharp increase in Irish house prices over the past year could continue in the near future, analysts say. In a recent survey of estate agents, four out of five surveyed predicted that national property prices would rise in the next year. The same survey also found that prices in some regions could rise by as much as 7 percent.

However, the rise in prices is most significant outside of Dublin. While experts predicted a rise of 4 percent in Dublin, a sharper increase is projected in areas outside the capital city. In Leinster, the rise is expected to be 6 percent, and prices are expected to increase by as much as 7 percent in Munster, Connacht and Ulster.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) and the Central Bank of Ireland Residential Property Price Survey was conducted in May, surveying over 200 estate agents. In this survey, the estate agents blamed the higher price forecast on homes outside of Dublin on the “covid effect”. The experts said that covid lockdowns and remote work situations have increased the attractiveness of …

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Why are investment funds buying up Irish Property?

Large-scale private rented sector (PRS) investors, sometimes called vulture or cuckoo funds, have rapidly become a major force in the Irish property market over the last few years.

As recently as 2017, these funds were a minor and insignificant part of the housing market. However, these firms have spent more than €6 billion buying Irish homes, apartment buildings, and commercial properties over the last three and a half years.

The cuckoo funds show no sign of slowing down in 2021, as they have spent €1.5 billion so far this year, according to recent figures from estate agents and property adviser JLL. Most of these funds are backed by international investors, and have quickly become big players in the market, particularly investing in deals for new apartments in Dublin.

But what is driving this relatively new and rapidly growing force in the market?

Analysts say that an influx of cash in European markets, lack of yields in traditional assets including bonds, and the huge surge in housing demand and high rent prices in Ireland have combined to create a very lucrative …

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Central Bank warns of New Home shortage

House prices have been surging in Ireland lately, and the new home market has been hit especially hard. The rise in house prices has been caused by a number of factors, and significantly accelerated due to the economic strains of the Covid-19 pandemic. Two recent reports from property websites myhome.ie and daft.ie have suggested that home prices are currently inflating at a 13 percent annual rate. Now, the Central Bank has warned that the pandemic will have a significant affect on the housing supply for the foreseeable future. The Central Bank projects that approximately 25,000 fewer new homes will be built between 2020 and 2023 when compared to pre-pandemic projections.

Among the many factors already driving an increase in pricing has been pent up savings. Consumers have had significantly less things to spend money on since March of last year, especially during those times when the country was under level 5 lockdowns-the strictest possible measure. People have not been able to shop at non-essential retail stores, eat or drink at their favorite pubs, or commute to work, leading to a …

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Government Housing Fund is Collecting Dust

The Irish government has allocated a large portion of their budget to address the current housing shortage and crisis that is plaguing Ireland. However, due to red tape and many other impediments, much of the budget has not been used yet and is sitting and collecting dust at the moment. Approximately 8% of the 200 million Euro government housing fund has been spent and many people are not happy about this.

The Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) was originally allocated 195 million Euros in 2016. Since then only 16 million has been spent and the majority of the budget has been sitting in an account. One of the major problems hindering efficient construction sites is Ireland’s outdated infrastructure. This fund was created to provide investment in public off-site infrastructure including; roads and water. This would cut down costs and time for delivering properties. This fund was created during the government’s creation of the Rebuilding Ireland policy to tackle homelessness and housing issues.

Infrastructure projects have been approved to begin under the fund, but not many have taken off. 30 …

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Housing and the Changing Demographics of Ireland

In order to solve the housing crisis, policy makers must consider changing demographics and plan for long term methods to resolve the housing crisis. According to Engineer’s Ireland review of housing in the The state of Ireland 2019, projections of future Irish population is increasing in number, age and diversity. The population is expected to grow from 2.78 people in 2017 to between 5.6 to 6.7 million people in 2051. The median forecast was defined as approximately 6.2 million people. An additional 1.48 million people must be housed in the next 32 years.

Future demographic projections are essential in forming adequate long term planning in regard to housing in Ireland. Due to the significant projected increase in population size, there is great demand to increase housing supply and plan accordingly.  The current average size of an Irish household is 2.7 people per home. If the average household size remains the same, the number of homes supplied must amount to at least 548,148 additional units by 2051. This amounts to an average of 15,661 additional housing units must supplied each year …

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Review of Housing Costs

Increasing costs of rent are hindering workers from benefiting from increases in wages due to the growth of economy and reaching full employment. The number of people who work are reaching record highs because of the booming economy. However, growth in wages cannot keep up with skyrocketing increases in homes.

The average cost of housing is increasing at a rate twice that of average earnings throughout the country. Rent has increased by 8% in 2018. The average wage increased by just over 3%.

According to the Center Statistics Office, the unemployment rate as of the second of July, 2019  is 4.5%. Although this is a relatively low percentage of unemployment other problems exist such as joblessness, skill shortages and low levels of employed women.

Modest official inflation figures are being questioned by various economists to determine if the figures are truly representative of what is actually occurring as increasing demands for greater pay is contributing to more pressure on workers.

In response to heightening housing prices, there have been many actions for the “living wage” to be heightened by an additional …

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Effects of ending the help-to-buy scheme

The help-to-buy scheme was designed to help first time buyers buy a home. First time buyers are encouraged to buy property through the help-to-buy scheme by refunds of income tax and deposit interest retention tax paid over the last four years. The help-to-buy scheme allows purchasers to claim a rebate  tax already paid of income up to €20,000 depending on the value of the property.

There is a move to end the help-to-buy scheme. This would be detrimental to the housing market. Figures have shown that more than 80% of all first time buyers are relying on the scheme to buy a home.

However, the scheme is scheduled to end at the end of 2019. The government has given no indication of an extension of the help-to-buy scheme.

According to theBanking and Payments Federation, 84% of new property purchases were made by first time buyers with the support of the help to buy scheme. Furthermore, chief economist, Dr Ali Ugur, claimed that the help-to-buy scheme was important for market stability. It was a key component in helping housing supply increase and …

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Risks to new social divide due to housing crisis

The burdens of the housing crisis continue to have an effect on everyday life. More homes are being built to slowly reach the immense demand for housing. In the month of March of 2019, more home were built than were sold.

Although more homes are being built, houses are still too expensive for an average couple to buy a first time home. Builders and developers are hoards land, and this keeps prices high. According to economist, Richard Curran, Ireland is headed for another crash. Curran believes there is a bubble in the housing market. Rents are rising too high while cuckoo funds are buying up too many apartments which causes first time buyers to be pushed out of the market. Furthermore, supply of housing is increasing but not enough to keep up with growing demands.

The number of homes are increasing, however these homes are not demanded. The homes built this year are too expensive and in inconvenient locations. Housing prices are likely to severely crash just as they did in the past.  There are fewer homes being sold at …

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Problems of the Irish Housing Market

The Irish housing market has faced a drastic increase in price of homes over the last 30 years. Of course inflation has contributed to the increase of the cost of homes, but inflation cannot nearly explain the massive jump in prices of Irish homes. More specifically, costs of housing has jumped more than five times the cost of a home 30 years ago.

So what does explain the massive rise in costs of property prices? Could it be that increase in salaries contribute to the rise of price in homes? I know that the average income today is much higher than it was 30 years ago. However, the rate that average income has increased over the last few decades is nowhere near the amount that housing prices have increased.

The maximum mortgage loan a homebuyer can be granted is his or her average salary multiplied by 3.5. According to the Irish Mirror, the average take weekly income of an irish person is €734 per week. Multiply this by 52 and you have €38168 before taxes. Even income before tax …

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