Stamp duty may need to rise to prevent housing bubble
The warning from Frank Quinn of the Blackrock Further Education Institute comes as a study conducted by sales website Myhome.ie states property sales for the first half of 2014 were up 39% on last year. The study follows a report from the Central Statistics Office which found residential property prices rose 12.5% in the year to June.
“The problem is that bubbles happen all the time, and the time to stop a bubble is at the initial stage,” Mr Quinn told RTÉ, adding that the Government may have to make a “difficult decision” to increase stamp duty to drive investors out of the market in favour of owner-occupiers.
