Michael Noonan promises site levy will stop land ‘hoarders’

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has pledged that delayed legislation for a vacant site levy will force developers who hoard land to build houses or sell on the sites.

He made the comments after Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh accused developers of deliberately “hoarding” land and stalling building homes to benefit from soaring house prices.

Brendan McDonagh said only a small fraction of the residential sites Nama has sold to developers since 2010 for housing have actually been built on.