New figures again highlight the enormous mountain that individuals and families have to climb if they want to buy a home, according to Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan.
“Confirmation today that fewer than 60 percent of new homes are available to buy is further evidence of dysfunction in our housing system.
“The situation is even worse in Dublin, where fewer than 40 percent of new homes are available to buy. This chronic undersupply in the capital is pushing buyers out to the commuter belt – and makes a mockery of the government’s claim it wants to create 15-minute cities.
“While the proportion of new homes available to buy continues to decline, there has been a collapse in the number of second hand homes available to buy. They have declined by a whopping 50 percent in the past decade – 30 percent in the past four years alone.
“Those who are desperate to buy their own home are facing a perfect storm of record-high house prices, vastly increased competition, dwindling second-hand supply and chronic ineptitude from a government that has turned a housing crisis into a housing disaster.
“Individuals and families competing with the State, as well as billion-euro vulture funds for homes, are losing hope of ever being able to own their own home.
“Meanwhile, the government continues gaslighting those locked out of home ownership by insisting that their housing plan is working – despite all of the mounting evidence to the contrary.
“At what point will the government admit the emperor has no clothes – and their housing plan is not just not working, it is making things worse?”
August 30, 2024