Housing Madness

You are correct. Where the council's went wrong years ago was selling off their council house stock. These houses should always be available for social houses. If they hadn't sold them the social housing tenents would now be living in the old houses and the new houses would be available to those who can buy

The notion of a council house for life has to change too - tenents should be encouraged or incentivised to work and better themselves to buy their own private home. Less likely to run out of social housing if people moved up the ladder.

Pointless talking about situations 60 years ago. We no longer live in anything that resembles that timeframe. We are existing in a Corporatocracy. In a corporatocracy, you, the citizen, as a basic member of society are entitled to nothing, just the bare minimum to meek out an existence. Even if you try to move up the ladder, the steps continuously snap and collapse underneath your own feet.

How bad can it get? We are about to find out real soon.

1364*120 = 163,680

Not even half of 350k. where does the rest come from?

Do you understand mortgages?

Most are 30 year terms.

You can fix the first 10 years for 2.4%

This takes the pressure off a homebuyer.

After 10 years about 26% of the mortgage is paid off.

You can also fix for 15 and 20 years

Might be that the price of property and housing has to be regulated. I think regulatory measures are the only way to deter individuals and stop them from gouging the citizens.

Maybe the scope of AHBRA (Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority) could be expanded…to include this functionality.

prices of taxis… regulated… independent contractors and companies in that industry cannot charge what they like…

apply the same principles to builders, property developers…..

have a builders / developers license whereby if there are issues with pricing or quality of work, their license suspended.

The RTB regulate the rental market, could their scope of responsibility be extended / augmented to include the private sale of houses ? The private market ?

Problem is going to continue to be supply vs demand.

until there is a way to cap demand or regulate the price of property we are screwed, there isn’t so we are…

no political party will toy with loosing votes by admonishing or curtailing the property developers who let’s face it, many are linked to politicians and political dynasties, parties and circles… so,its as you were, are, will be until somebody in the Dail has the bollôcks to act for the citizens of this country.

again though we need to look at the main driver of our rapid population growth.

Some good ideas in this thread, let’s collate and send them to Sinn Fein and then they have a chance at implementation

If you are concerned about "those already in the country working and trying to survive", it doesn't realy make sense to hope that "the economy stalls a bit". A stalled economy is not a favourable one in which to be working.

This, 1000 times this. One of the more insidious effects of inflation is that it is virtually impossible to unravel. Any measure the improves the housing/rented situation must affect - decrease - current house prices. Increase supply or decrease demand, doesn't matter. If things are to improve for renters/young people, then prices MUST come down - and that means the value of existing property MUST be reduced. The baby-boomers ain't going to stand for that! Relaxing mortgage criteria will only drive up prices.

Whether you own your house for 6 months or 60 years, you will feel this effect. It's electoral suicide for any party to introduce policies that decrease people's equity. Sad, but true.

It would be nice for any party to actually admit this, rather than mouthing cliches.

You're also seeing the same effect with grade inflation in the leaving cert. Once points go up, it's very hard for them to go down again.

A whole generation of economists are about to learn all about inflation - the hard way.

Literally impossible. Lots of laws and things like the constitution are in the way. As it is the rent controls in place look like they are going to be challenged and may cost the state a lot of money.

What people seem to miss is the quality of living standards is much better. The expectation of living standards is also much higher. Something people aren't considering is what is coming over the next 10 years. Dublin is surrounded by hosuing built in the 60s-early 80s and those original owners are dying and will die soon. There will be a ton of these houses on the market relatively shortly. They currently have a very low occupancy rate as it is 1-2 people in these houses that used to have 5 people in them. Tehy are going to come onto the market.

It might mean cheaper housing as stock comes onto the market. Some of these houses will end up being split into more than one household. The limits people think are there about housing prices aren't really there as proven in all expanding cities. Places can become smaller rather than cheaper.

Housing is way more complex than people think and spans life times. The idea of devaluing houses and/or forcing sales is not a new idea. The thing is somebody is paying for that and just because it isn't the buyer doesn't make it right. Good luck trying to get investment in property after that is tried.

It is good that you see that construction costs are a factor here. No way you will cap their rates during high demand

Perhaps a negative trend for SF is the increasing proportion of the voting population who are over 65.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/election-2020-19-rise-in-over-65s-population-may-shape-result-1.4165599

It’s not just housing where the middle class, or is it lower middle to middle class are screwed.

a lot of social housing gone up near me , top of the range is what I would describe the houses as.

when the new owners moved in, the cars in the front gardens would suggest they ain’t broke.

work vans , mercs , audis, BMW’s some with 2 cars, the people carrier and runabout.

madness and sickening at the same time.

middle class get screwed, the welfare state and public services cost can’t just keep increasing when will it end?

so much inefficiency at the expense of the people paying for it.

You directly compared it by mentioning foreign investment. One of the strikes you mentioned was over 100 years ago and was very different. The next you mention was to one particular landlord not all rents. What happens in another country about rent isn't relevant here because different causes and different laws apply.

Irish people love to fight the system as a post colonial chip on our shoulder. It does matter it is our system and not a system that didn't allow representation. You can hope for some revolution from the working class but it isn't going to happen. People have been saying the same stuff all my life and it hasn't happened. Ireland had the highest home ownership in the world that was going to change always but people seem surprised. I don't even know how much of the population are renting do you? Do you think they all have the same background and agree politically? Do they only know people in their own situation?

You are looking for united group to campaign out of a very scattered group. They won't be able to manage it as it would involve too many extremists. Look at the occupation of the office block and how it all fell apart. Dream about revolution all you like but it isn't going to happen.

For those of us that were "lucky" enough to have bought an 80's house with a BER of E2 (when we bought it - single glazing, single leaf cavity block, feck all insulation in the attic etc) its not great either.

We spent a fortune getting it up to C3. We would absolutely love to get the external walls wrapped to get us at a B grade never mind A, but thats just a pipe dream, no way we can afford that.

The new SEAI scheme is a gift to the rich and freebies for those on the dole. The rich get their huge houses upgraded for half price, the welfare recipients get it done for free, and a great many of the rest of us cannot afford the 50% off ~€20k it would still cost to get ours done.

Long story short if you are rich or on the dole the government seems to care about you, the rest of us can eat cake.

The idea, which I don't quite believe, is that you get a top up on your mortgage and the reduction in your heating bills will be enough so you actually pay very little more. I saw bit on Eco Eye and it showed a calculation whereby the owner only ended up paying an extra €1 a month. It seemed a bit basic but if true everyone can benefit who owned a house for a while.

It doesn't just benefit the rich and poor, people are assuming the "rich" just have the cash. Money smart people can see the benefits and borrow on their assets.

I personally got 3 properties externally insulated when the grants first came out over 10 years ago. Our heating is a lot cheaper than people I know plus the house is way more comfortable. The price to do the work now is a good 40% more expensive now but we have had all these years of saving fuel too. It will have paid for itself in 5 more years.

Yes and as I just tried to explain to you standards are different and there is a cost to social improvements. Building standards are better now so a new home will tend to be superior to older properties. The council doesn't own the houses for sale but does the newer properties which it gives to it's tenants. As part of the drive to equality council housing was sold to the tenants at a discount. This gave poor people the chance to own and benefit from having an asset they could pass onto family.

They are the houses you now say private buyers are stuck buying or can't even afford. That is the cost of helping former council tenants own. What exactly do you want to be done? Make the council buy the old places and sell the new builds to people privately at a discount? There is a reason for it as is and I don't know what can be done other than complain.