Maybe @Fagan_ODowd can post it up for you.
In short, FGâs solution to the housing crisis is to give massive tax breaks to funds that are making the housing crisis worse and have history of doing massive damage elsewhere. You couldnât make it up.
FG are, and always have been, about giving the well off a break. They dont give a fuck about the working man.
I got to this line "Powered by tax breaks, they purchase whole developments before they are built, muscling out first-time buyers and contributing to the rental crisis. " and I realised that Oliver Callan is as shit at economics/basic logic as he is at comedy.
Break it down for us there pal.
The whole issue is supply. More supply = moderation of prices, both for renting and for buying. Therefore, Oliverâs argument that more supply of rental properties is contributing to the rental crisis is contradictory and hugely simplistic.
Flip it the other way, is he saying that less rental properties being available would solve the rental crisis?
The rest of the article is an incoherent vomit of shite-talk from the pub.
There are lots of issues with the broad accommodation market in Ireland. Itâs very complicated. However this article is just shit.
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Good man Jim McGuinness. A superb blanket defence of FG.
Thatâs wrong.
Maybe he could have invested in a fund if he hadnât ate out all the time.
Seems about right ⌠can you explain in layman terms, why the government wont build more or encourage private builds? Itâs not like Ireland has never been here before - Do they simply not have the will to do it and are hiding behind tin pot politics and bullshit red tape? Need of the people should out trump any of that.
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Strawman.
There is lots that FG have done wrong on housing. However simplistic bullshit articles like this help no-one apart from simpletons on message boards and social media.
The housing market in Ireland is hugely complicated with multiple competing needs, restrictions etc combined with a large time delay to see the output of actions. The notion that simplistic sloganeering type politics is the solution to it is bollocks or even that that there is a simple âsolutionâ to it.
Oliver Callan should stick to what heâs best at - really unfunny impressions.
I think they try and encourage as much building as possible because they recognise supply is the ultimate issue. However, there are three basic things needed - planning, funding and construction capacity.
On planning, weâre still all over the place and politicians of all parties bemoan lack of development and then slow development down. All parties delaying solutions.
On funding, the REIT structure and other mechanisms were part of the way of increasing funding to get projects up and running. Banks are very slow after the last crisis to fund development and the state funding it alone wonât meet the needs. I think the funding thing has been largely solved but it was one of the biggest issues initially.
Finally construction capacity to my mind is now the biggest issue. Simply put, there is not enough builders. If you have enough builders to build 10,000 houses per year and you try and build 20,000 then mostly what youâll get is the rate that they charge goes up and you only build around 10,000 houses. Same number but more expensive. Weâre also trying to build schools, hospitals, roads etc with the same construction crowd.
On top of all that you have political vested interests so whatâs good for buyers isnât good for renters, whatâs good for renters isnât what local residents want, what rebuilds the banks and the country finances (not forgetting how fucked we were there) is bad for renters and buyers etc etc etc.
Anyone who says there is a simple solution is peddling fools gold
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So do we need to take a large element of this out of politicians / gov hands and make it local rather than central regulation? Does Dublin really give a fuck what Limerick /Cork need etc. etc âŚ
I donât think anyone suggested that there is a simple solution. The main takeaway from the article is that the government massively subsidising funds which have a massively negative impact on the housing market is bananas. Could that money be better spent by the government? Yes. Is giving massive tax breaks to funds which are worsening the housing crisis nonsensical? Also yes.
And please donât come back and tell me the funds are building units and that will solve the crisis which is ultimately a supply issue. Housing does not work like a standard supply and demand market and trying to represent it as such is either dumb or disingenuous.
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The biggest issue with the housing crisis at present is the inability of non homeowners to purchase at current market rates, particularly those being squeezed by the current rental market.
I think legislation should certainly be passed severely prohibiting multiple property owners and landlords from entering the market. That would go a long, long way to easing the issue.
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So you think that the overall issue isnât one of supply? Original thinking, Iâll give you that.
I think recent figures would suggest that the vast majority of homes are purchased by homeowners, i.e. not buy to let. The one exception to that is the block purchase of apartments but as has been pointed out, those units then enter the rental market.
There is an inherent tension though that what is good for renters isnât necessarily good for prospective buyers.
or the en bloc buying of developments by investment funds.
The rental market is a sham, an investment mechanism.
Not sure to be honest, I wouldnât have that much confidence in local execs/politicians vs the national ones. The one thing I suppose it would do is take away the argument that Dublin doesnât give a fuck etc which I think is a bit stupid.
Well of course the rental market is an investment and that isnât necessarily a bad thing.
There has definitely been gov policy to try and tip the rental market from small landlords to the bigger institutional ones. In addition to try and improve the quality of rental accommodation. The intention was likely good, i/e a higher standard of service but it has definitely come at a cost too.
Either way though, if there are more rental units than demand, prices will moderate and then fall despite what funds try and charge or what incentives they get. Supply solves all.
The rental market seems to be particularly huge. You look at distressed properties too which by and large seem to be snapped up by investment funds or private landlords.
There needs to be legislation introduced that prohibits residential accomodation being treated as commodities. Would you not agree?
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