Rising immigration key to sustaining housing market - NCB

Rising immigration and continued growth in income are key to sustaining demand and supporting prices in the Irish housing market.

That’s according to NCB Stockbrokers’ senior economist Eunan King, who today launched a detailed report on the future of the Irish housing market.

According to Eunan King: “Immigration, which recently appears to be running at 11,000 per month, is key to supporting house completions in the coming years.

"The freedom of access granted to citizens of the ten new EU states will have an influence housing demand remaining at between 50,000 and 70,000 units for the next 15 years. Added to this is demand for second homes which we estimate currently runs at more than 10,000 per annum.”

Eunan King added: “The rise in debt in Ireland appears sustainable because ability to repay is robust, initial levels of debt were low and the wealth and assets against which most of the debt is secured is a multiple of the debt. Presently mortgage debt is only 25% of the value of the housing stock.”