Strategy Published To Tackle Housing Problems

The Society of Chartered Surveyors has published a ten step strategy to tackle the housing shortage in Ireland.

In the report the society highlights that the "serious shortage" of residential property is leading to house price inflation of 24% year-on-year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

It also compares figures for units built in 2006, 89,000 at its peak, to units built last year, 8,301 – representing a decline of 90%.

The society's ten recommendations are:

• Introduce a 'Builders Finance Fund' to support SME builders


completing developments

• Reduce development contributions for a period of 2 years

• Streamline planning process to speed up decisions and reduce delays

• Reduce VAT on new home construction from 13.5% to 5% for 2 years

• Reduce windfall tax on land from 80% to 33% to bring it in line with Capital Gains Tax

• Introduce Vacant Site Levy on sites of strategic importance in a targeted and

transparent manner

• Encourage NAMA to license developers to build out sites in strategic areas in its portfolio

• Introduce a Local Property Tax exemption for people 'trading- down' to smaller units to increase the availability of second hand homes

• Introduce a Revolving Infrastructure Fund (RIF) to finance infrastructure provision upfront before development

• Greater action needed on reducing the number of mortgages in arrears, particularly in the 'Buy to Let' sector.

The full proposal can be found the Society website

(MH/IT)