14 October 2014
Surveyors welcome Budget measures but say that Construction 2020 measures must be implemented immediately to boost private housing supply.
Extension of Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) Scheme to rental market will improve quality of rental property stock.
Multi-Annual Social Housing Strategy will support 89,000 people in need of social housing but speedy implementation is critical.
NTMA Housebuilders Investment fund will help builders access finance to boost supply.
Agri Tax measures including windfall tax reduction will support sector in meeting Food Harvest 2020 objectives.
Tuesday 14th October 2014: The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) has welcomed a range of measures introduced in Budget ‘15 but says the immediate implementation of Construction 2020 measures is critical to meeting the housing supply shortage.
Pauline Daly, President of SCSI said “While we broadly welcome the range of measures introduced we would have a concern that they may not go far enough to address the housing shortage we are seeing in Dublin and other urban areas in the short term. We have seen price increases in Dublin of 25% over the past year due to supply shortages and this is not sustainable.”
“The SCSI has projected a requirement for 35,000 units in Dublin over the next 5 years or around 7,500 a year. This year, just 3,000 units are expected to be delivered which is less than half of what we need. If this supply shortage is not addressed, we are likely to see further volatility in property prices”.
The extension of the Home Renovation Incentive Scheme (HRI) which has proved successful in the domestic market and the extension of the Living Cities initiative was welcomed by the SCSI.
“The extension of the HRI, which was recommended by SCSI, and the proposed extension of the Living Cities initiative, will encourage landlords to upgrade the stock of private rental properties” Ms Daly said.
The SCSI also welcomed the announcement of the multiannual approach to increasing social housing supply.
“Increased capital investment in social housing was a key recommendation by the SCSI in its public capital programme submission. The capital investment of €2.2bn for social housing provision for the next 3 years and delivery of 6,700 units is much needed, particularly in the context of the €270m allocation last year”.
“Approximately 89,000 people are in need of social housing support and the key is to ensure that the allocated multi annual funds are fully invested each year” she said.The SCSI also said that the proposed NTMA house builders’ investment scheme would help bridge the development finance gap which is blocking the delivery of housing.