House prices to rise by 4%; govt called on to introduce legal right to housing

Unrealistic price expectations among house sellers is the number one reason a sale falls through.

A new report by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) shows that demands for higher prices rank ahead of mortgage issues and buyers finding another property.

The report also found that nationally, house prices are expected to increase by 4% this year, while prices in the rental market are expected to rise by 5%.

Aine Myler, SCSI Director General, says a consistent increase in house prices over the past number of years has created unrealistic expectations.

"You can imagine that everybody has this anticipation that the following year their house is going to be worth more," said Ms Myler.

"But actually in a wider context we have had supplies start to come back into the market which provides more choice for buyers.

"We've also had the Central Bank macro-prudential rules coming more to the fore, in the last year in particular, which limits the amount that someone can borrow and necessarily then what somebody can pay."

Full room as ⁦@irishcongress⁩ general secretary Patricia King opens Raise the Roof conference, housing crisis is not “normal” and there are solutions that must be state-led, ⁦@labour⁩ policy agrees pic.twitter.com/3hFykeLDNl

— Jan O'Sullivan (@JanOSullivanTD) January 30, 2019

Meanwhile, campaign group Raise the Roof says introducing a legal right to housing would be a good first step in tackling the accommodation crisis.

The alliance - which includes unions and charities - is also calling on the government to introduce a major social housing programme.

The campaign is holding a conference today in Dublin to discuss the issue.

Campaign spokesperson Macdara Doyle from Congress says introducing a right to housing would represent important progress.

"We are not saying that this is a silver bullet, that you can introduce this tomorrow and then homelessness ends and the housing shortages disappear magically," said Mr Doyle.

"That's not going to happen. But it is an important first step."