Housing list gets longer and house prices rise again

AN AVERAGE of three applicants joined Cork city council’s housing waiting list every day last month pushing total figures to an all-time high.

Figures presented to the council’s housing committee last night showed that the waiting list as at January 31 stood at 4,823 eligible applicants.

A further 436 applicants are being assessed. That gives a grand total of 5,259 on the council’s list.

This represents an increase of 107 applicants from the December 31, 2004 figure of 5,152.

It is the seventh consecutive increase in the city’s housing waiting lists since the election of the new council last June.

Socialist Party Cllr Mick Barry said despite what the larger parties say, the city has a housing crisis.

“There needs to be a recognition that there is a crisis. The Government needs to be forced to open the purse strings and to provide extra state funding to massively increase the supply of social housing to deal with this.

The latest figures emerged against the backdrop of higher than expected house price inflation in Cork this year.

Niall Murphy, regional Manager in the south for IIB Homeloans, said while national house prices are expected to rise by 7% this year, he expected Cork’s house prices to rise somewhat faster at just under 10% in 2005.

Mr Murphy said IIB Homeloans has seen a huge surge in borrowing, particularly in the Cork area.

“The analysis indicates that housing demand is likely to remain buoyant,” he said.

“The increase in housing wealth last year was staggering.

“The average Cork home owner saw the value of their property increase by about €33,000 in 2004.

“That is probably 10-15 times the increase they would expect to get in average salaries last year.”