Second home buyers ‘must get taxed’

HOLIDAY homebuyers should be hit with property taxes and charges to provide services to free up more houses for genuine home buyers, the ESRI recommends.

Targeting second houses as a major contributor to the housing crisis, the think tank says tax reliefs only add to demand and should be scrapped.

Rather than just focusing on the supply of housing, ESRI report editor John Fitzgerald says the Government needs to introduce measures to control demand in the housing sector particularly demand for second dwellings.