Institutional investors buy bulk of a housing estate every 30 days

Figures released to Mr Doherty on Wednesday show a sharp rise in the purchase of homes by funds since the Government opted in May 2021 to levy a 10% stamp duty rate on anyone who buys more than 10 homes in a year. File picture

The bulk of a housing estate is bought by an institutional investor every 30 days, the Dáil has been told.

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty raised the issue during Leaders' Questions on Thursday, citing the example of a Dublin development where 46 out of 54 houses at Belcamp Manor in Balgriffin in Dublin were bought for over €21.5m by an investment fund. 

Figures released to Mr Doherty on Wednesday show a sharp rise in the purchase of homes by funds since the Government opted in May 2021 to levy a 10% stamp duty rate on anyone who buys more than 10 homes in a year.

Mr Doherty told Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien that the figures showed that this measure had not gone far enough. He said the tax changes were "a bluff" which had had a negligible impact.

"There's a Belcamp Manor being snapped up by these funds every single 30 days. That's what's happening, and it's happening under your watch. And less than three years since this Government's half-baked measures were introduced, over 1,200 homes have been snapped up by these funds."

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Sinn Féin has proposed increasing the rate to 17%, something which the Government has said it will not support.  In response, Mr O'Brien denied that Government was "happy" to see the homes rented out for €3,100 a month and said the situation "absolutely needs to be reviewed".

He pointed out that the 2021 rule change did not apply retroactively to any planning permissions filed pre-May 2021. Less than 1% of homes built since 2021 — around 125,000 all in — had been purchased by so-called cuckoo funds, Mr O'Brien told the Dáil. 

Commencement notices for December 2023 would be over 3,000 — bringing overall commencements for the year to 32,000, the minister said. While he was "angered" by the sale, it was legal.

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns also raised housing, pointing out that over 21,000 visas were issued to Irish people for Australia last year, which she blamed on a lack of housing options.

"It is no country for young people," she told the Dáil.