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NEW PLANS TO tackle the housing crisis include a scheme to help first-time buyers get on the property ladder.
It is likely this scheme will involve a tax rebate, but The Irish Times reports that ‘top-ups’ to cover a deposit may also be on the table.
So, we want to know: Should first-time buyers get a government grant?
Poll Results:
Yes (9173)
No (5643)
I'm not sure (1182)
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It doesn’t take an economist to know that it is a supply and demand problem. There aren’t enough houses available to cope with demand and so prices are going up. It’s very simple. Adding more money to the system will only increase prices further, it won’t deal with the underlying problem. The only way of solving it is to increase supply
Ben> No it won’t just mean the houses will rise by the amount of the grant. It only applies to first time buyers and the market has others who will not get the grant.
Kev> I am not naive I am a realist. In a closed system where everybody got the grant prices would rise. As only FTB will get the grant and the other people in the market don’t prices won’t rise by the grant amount. It is financially naive to think it will as it makes assumptions that there are only FTB and that they will be only buying new houses.
Kal you’re both right and wrong.
Prices won’t rise across the board to match the grant because not all buyers will be FTBs.
But some will be so and so prices will rise at a proportionate level.
Increasing the supply of money to a situation where demand is high and stock means one thing – price increases as people outbid each other.
Would make no sense. Giving a grant of say €5,000 would only push up the price of houses by around €5,000. No net gain whatsoever. Having said that, I can fully understand why ant decent hard-working person would like some State aid when trying to buy a home, when they see the amount of aid given to people in Council houses as regards subsidised rent, repairs, exemption from the property tax, etc., and the sense of entitlement that the residents of those houses shoe.
The government always try to make things more complecated than they need to be. The CSO has reported that there are thousands of empty houses, so wouldn’t it make more sense for the government to look at incentivising people to buy them first and just scrap the stamp duty for first time buyers. That way the selling price is fixed without the hidden add-on costs.
I hear ya, we bought a 2 bed duplex in the boom now in Major neg equity , both working and paying our mortgage off, we’ve sacrificed a lot but it’s all worth it to keep a roof over our heads but then we get No help. Banks basically laughed at us when we looked into to moving on. Our duplex is a perfect stater house for a young couple but not for the family of 3 and its stopping us from being able to have another child because the house is just too small and we’re trapped here.
No. The first thing that’ll happen is that builders and estate agents will bump up their prices overnight by the size of the grant – we’ve seen it before.
It was never a first time buyer grant. It was a first time “new house” buyer grant. Effectively a payment to builders. It should be called what it is, if re-introduced, as it was very misleading.
Yeah.. make the younger generation slaves to credit as soon as possible… !! Talk about not learning from your mistakes… give first time buyers 5 k to give to the banks and property developers.. it is fundamentally flawed ffs.
Seriously does this government have an innovative bone in its body? We drink too much. Solution – increase taxes and prices. The health system is falling apart. Solution – bring in a new minister. Insurance premiums are out of control. Solution – not our problem. People can’t afford to buy houses. Solution – give them a few quid. Pathetic.
People should have learned their lesson not to buy off the plans in remote housing estates without getting guarantees of services like roads, sewage, lighting etc.
How about a grant to help the 50k or so households who by no fault got screwed over by the government and now unable to keep their homes, let alone sell them and start over, without legacy debt of an overheated market.. Christmas when will these muppets we vote for follow the Roosevelt Plan of the 1930′s and get society working for us all instead of the 1%.
Or do something to help the 300K or so variable rate mortgage holders who the banks are being allowed to absolutely screw to the wall with inflated interest rates to help build their balance sheets.
But the Government should get on top of Estate Agents they will think it’s their divine right to drive the price of houses if my thinking is right the government won’t move until it’s to late .
You realise Estate agents don’t actually reach into your pocket and take your money right? If you don’t like the price don’t pay it. It won’t sell and prices will drop!
Cian I should have guessed an Estate Agent what other answer would a man expect ,but your right you don’t have to take that price because their is always another fool coming along who will take it. I only hope the government act in time .
There is no point. I got a first time buyers grant when I bought my house. My brother bought the same house two months earlier for £30000.The government brought in a £ 2000 Grant and my house which was exactly the same went to £ 32000. Greedy builders again. Nothing changes
That must have been a long time ago Alan, not many houses these days sell for £32,000.
It’s not just builders who jack up the prices, consider solicitors and people selling land to be equally greedy.
VAT & Part5 Levy on first time buyers a disgrace …Gov regressive anti citizens taxes unacceptable.
€76,000 artificially added to price of basic Irish House. Obscene.
Proper framework needed to deliver affordable homes for both private and social homes. Too many vested interests(financial predators ..incl Gov tax) in inflated cost of Irish homes….. Ireland a failed society.
Typical Irish home build costs
Per Unit: ……. Amount:
Site Cost € 50,000
Build Cost @ €100 psf, Size Average 1,100 = €110,000
Roads & Infrastructure € 15,000
Utility Connections € 2,000
Legal Fees on Acquisition and Disposal, Marketing, Estate Agency Fees. € 6,000
Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Consultants, Homebond and Stamp Duty. € 2,500
Part V Contributions to social housing € 5,000
Council Levies € 10,000 ?
Cost of Finance € 7,500
Total Costs €208,000
VAT @ 13.5% € 28,080
Sale Price €236,080 ( equivalent French starter home €160,000)
€76,000 artificially added to price of basic Irish House. Obscene.
This is a stupid idea. It will increase the cost of houses. The government should reduce the tax on house building and give landlords full tax relief on loan interest. landlords are leaving the market at a big rate. airbnb is also reducing the number of apartments available for rent
They are saying there will be a new tax band for people earning over 70k or 80k. So increasing taxes on many landlords. This is so incredibly short sighted and will push rents up again.
@eyepopper, all landlords are not greedy quite a lot have bought apartments as an investment towards their pension, I know of one who bought around 2005 it is now worth a lot less than what he payed for it but the mortgage on it remains the same, he charges a reasonable rent he has always had to pay a % above the rental to cover the mortgage plus maintance etc not counting home tax or water tax, so please dont talk to me about ALL landlords, (ps I am not a landlord nor would I care to be asthe effort is not worth the result`s….
Yes Noonan wants to bring in a solidarity tax on people earning over 70000 that could see them losing their PAYE credit and effectively paying 65.8% tax on anything over that. Honestly not worth working in this country anymore. That’s a huge hit for a family to take and will see less money available to spend in the economy, more people falling into debt and a huge loss in our competiveness. Someone earning just under 70000 but who maybe gets a 5000 bonus once a year would lose almost 3500 euros in tax. What a joke
Most people have to pay towards their pension. Purchasing a buy-to-let at the height of the bubble and expecting the monthly mortgage/costs to be covered by rental income would equate to the tenants paying your pal’s pension contributions.
when are they gonna do something for those crippled by negative equity….. No chance taxpayer… That money is earmarked for those on the social, they need their Christmas Bonus don’t you know… Ciggies and pyjamas don’t come cheap…..
Of course the prices will go up. Anyone remember the stamp duty threshold whereby you had none once the price was €317,500? What happened? Every shoe box house and apartment went up to that threshold. What I’d like to know is what the government will do for the so called lost generation who bought at the height of the boom and got stuck with apartments and small houses which are simply not suitable to raise a family in? Wouldn’t it make sense to help those too so that starter homes can be sold and freed up for this generation of first time buyers. Yes I’m one of them, yes I’d like to be not renting out my apartment and in turn renting a house so my children can have a childhood and friends to play with. The central bank rules are working to an element and keeping prices down however they are a noose around the neck to young families like mine stuck in negative equity. Our government are small minded and are only thing of voters for the next election. Rant over
For a lot of people it’s not the price of the house that is the issue it is the fact that they are paying rent that is far in excess of what a mortgage repayment would be and therefore cannot save the requisite deposit. ..
We need to have a more radical look at housing policy and join the developed world. The British inheritance of semi-detached hoses with front and back gardens can no longer work. We need well-planned high density housing and builders who are prepared to do in Ireland what they did in other places, including ironically in Britain, to deliver that housing.
at hot bank, have you seen these modern housing block`s ? they are the qheto`s of the future think back to ballymun, I lived there and at the time it was a great place to live but unfortunatly didnt work, highrise flats/appartments always start out with the best intentions but human nature is not designed to live in each other`s pockets we need a certain amount of space, the council in tallaght are destroying the place with their house`ing policy of building extra housing on every vacant space they can find they dont even make any attempt to blend the new with the existing with the result the place looks crap for want of a better word….
When Cromwell said ‘to hell or to Connaught” 366 years ago he wasn’t sending poor families to a 3 bed-2bath
Celtic Tiger house in Mayo ; oh no, he was sending to a boggy-rocky region with nothing except hardship.
Nowadays, politicians are not game to suggest that the chronically unemployed-welfare addicts of Dublin should be
relocated to Celtic Tiger ghost estates , which, with a few k a pot, could be restored to their 2007 glory.
Instead we want to build Dublin houses and apartments starting a a quarter of a mil a pot…….not bad if you can afford it
…….eh?
But why not give relief to all first time house buyers, who purchased from 2000 , as these were the people MOST effected by the property bubble/ crash. Surely these are the people who deserve ANY help- by way of tax relief, or State grants, more so than New buyers of today. Mortgage holders of those years before the crash, are struggling ( at best), in default ( at worst) – if not suicidal with enormity of their plight..these – ALL- in negative equity, surely deserve to be assisted, just as much as New Buyers, of today? This proposed new homebuyers grant, will make our Property Developers more wealthy , again…at the taxpayers expense( AGAIN)…this is a pretence of Government, to ‘help’ . Can we not see, the “Galway Tent”, syndrome in action here: again???
its like Déjà vu listening to the rubbish of grants and building organisations looking for liquidity to first time buyers. we have gone like uk they go through boom bust and were just heading into the start of the next one
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