A derisory 5 per cent increase in stamp duty on bulk purchases will continue to facilitate investment funds snapping up homes at the expense of first-time buyers, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan.
“Budget 2025 was a golden opportunity to begin the radical change that is needed to fix the housing crisis. Instead, it contains a series of tokenistic half measures and one-off handouts.
“Nowhere is this clearer than the completely inadequate 5 per cent increase to the stamp duty on bulk purchases.
“There is no reason investment funds should be allowed to buy up housing estates. It benefits nobody but their own shareholders.
“The Government’s increased stamp duty introduced in 2021 gave the appearance of them taking action, but we know it has been utterly ineffective.
“Last year alone, the number of homes bought in bulk increased by 58 per cent. Clearly, investment funds are more than happy to fork out the extra stamp duty to buy up homes.
“The Social Democrats have called for the rate of stamp duty on bulk bought homes to increase to 100 per cent – this would act as an effective ban on the practice.
“This is not an extreme measure. Allowing existing homes to be bought in bulk drives up house prices, locks out first-time buyers and adds nothing to our overall housing stock.
“This tokenistic 5 per cent increase is another example of a Government that is all about optics but unwilling to actually stand up to the investment funds.”
October 1, 2024