Ahern targets middle-income house-hunters with developers deal

HOUSING Minister Noel Ahern is “hopeful” of brokering a deal with developers that will allow more than 25,000 middle-income earners squeezed out of the property market to buy their first homes.

There were 77,000 homes built here last year and one-third of these households in the future will have difficulty buying their own homes, according to the national housing agency Threshold.

Mr Ahern revealed that there is an acceptance among some builders that they must provide more affordable houses particularly for people who have been squeezed out of the market in recent years.