Couples on 107K can’t afford a home

The difference between those countries and here is the additional taxes we pay in Ireland. The duty on beer in Spain and Germany is 3 cents. In Ireland it's 63 cents. I could go on.

…tis very little to do with tax folks, and more to do with allowing and facilitating widescale speculation in our property markets, and the same government is gonna be in place after the next ge, 'keeping the recovery(of property prices) going'!

107k on the help to buy scheme is more than enough for most estates. You'd only need 5% deposit. I don't see how thats a problem if you're earning over 100k

…oh we know what needs to be, theres just no political will to do the opposite to whats actually being done!

If they're Irish, it's highly likely they grew up in a 3-bed Semi-D, hence "they want what they know" so to speak.

I've lived in Apartments, Non-Conventional Semi-D layout (Kitchen upstairs) and a 3-Bed Semi-D. If you want to start a family, a 3 bed Semi-D is best… which is probably the two reasons why people want them.

In relation to the EU, it would seem there is no happy medium, I for one would hope we stay in the EU, I can however see this changing in the next 10/15 years if people begin to feel abandoned by the state.

deflating property prices would actually have positive effects on the economy, and of course for society at large, the velocity or turnover of our money supply is decreasing, this is largely due to our rapid rise in private debt, which is largely due to our rapid rise in property prices. this reduction in velocity in turn is causing significant issues for many sectors, including and in particular sme sectors, as less money is available to being spent into these sectors, which is leading to increasing risks in these sectors, its also important to note, most are employed by sme's, so this means overall job security is decreasing, this is why covid interventions such as pup worked very well, it provided the economy, with critically needed money, particularly for these sme sectors, saving many of these businesses…..

…then of course theres the negatives, negative equity, growing instability in related sectors, in particular fire sectors(finance, insurance and real estate), etc etc, potential crashes etc, but noting, if that happens, bailouts would clearly be the solution, and probably austerity to boot, and on we go…..

…dont worry folks, deflating such markets isnt gonna happen, we just have to accept your kids, grand kids, nieces and nephews are just fcuked, which actually means, we re all eventually fcuked, rock and roll…..

Only in meath, too. Not everyone can live in the centre of the capital. It's not realistic. There arent articles about it but you can't buy in london, paris, berlin etc either. Have you looked up the price of a 3 bed on 5th avenue?

I'm not disagreeing with you there. It boils down to an abject failure to plan, and then a failure to act.

I have lived in Lucan, Leixlip and Maynooth. All decent towns. 2 of them are in Kildare and 1 in Dublin.

On 107k plus minimum deposit you could buy my current house at 4 times income borrowed no problem.

Thats 428k borrowed plus another 48k or so as a deposit giving you the buying power of about 475k.

3.5 times income would give 370 borrowed and deposit bringing purchase price to 410k, tight for a 3 bed semi in these areas but its doable.

Yes, I have seen some new build 3 beds in these areas for over 500k but you dont need to buy a new build.

There arent really many areas in the country more expensive than these except expensive Wicklow towns, some closer to Dublin postcodes and maybe closer to the cities of Cork and Galway. So, most of the country is accessible on that income in reality.

The secret is to make the booking before you’re sick - once the appointment date nears just fake symptoms of whatever illness you think you’ll get next and get a prescription for that 😀

That has nothing to do with my point. The OP opened the thread referencing earnings, and then how the middle class in this country were being done on income tax.

I then pointed out that this is a common misconception. I acknowledged the property market is in a state and agree with that. But to say it has anything to do with Ireland being somehow really harsh on middle earner income tax is inaccurate.

I dont think paying an extra 60cent on a litre of beer is stopping people buying a house. Plus, the dirty anamoly between Ireland and Germany you mentioned applies to all types of earner.

Also, Germany has VAT and things like we do. Yes, we have some extra duties, and they have some weird charges too that we don't have. I don't think in the grand scheme of things, one wins out over the other.

My point was in relation to after tax income, Ireland isn't some high tax country. On 50k, you're better off by 6,600 over Germany.

If you think that's going to spent on 60cent duties on beer or various other things, I disagree.

I acknowledge, yeah you could argue higher rents in Ireland knock out any tax savings. That would mean high rents are preventing people from saving to buy a house.

But "high" income tax isn't preventing people buying houses. Because we aren't a high income tax country. As I've shown Vs several other EU ones.

We are an expensive country. But we are not being "robbed" on income tax. It's one thing I completely disagree with people saying where I'd agree with them on everything else. The proof is in the numbers. We don't actually pay that much tax on what we earn.

Well that's a horseshit headline. 107k x4 = 428k mortgage plus 50k deposit you'd be looking without any help to buys at 480k houses which in Dublin opens up A LOT and that's the expensive county.

But media likes to fear monger by focusing on new builds, picking a very specific price point and house type and description, to painting it out that you can't own a home.

Not everyone has mammy and daddy to move back in with though, nor do they have access to tens of thousands from mammy and daddy's savings.

2 things which significantly skew the market incidentally.

For those already renting with bills and maybe children to support it's not at all that simple.