Affordable housing - Houses for profit unfair on others

EVEN though the completion of new houses and apartments are up 24% on the same period of last year, the Government has not been meeting its promise to make more affordable housing available to young Irish couples.

One-fifth of new houses were supposed to be in the affordable housing bracket, but only 2,900 out of the 81,000 completed last year were in that category.

Builders have been allowed to offset their obligation by offering local councils money and land in lieu of providing affordable houses.

This has facilitated forcing prices up, which means that they have become prohibitively costly for more people at the lower end of the economic ladder.

The housing demand has further increased with the number of immigrants getting into the property market. Almost one-fifth of all first-time house buyers are now foreign nationals.

Minister for Housing Noel Ahern said yesterday that he would be asking Minister for Finance Brian Cowen to do something in December’s budget to curb the housing speculation that has been a major factor in forcing prices up.

“I would like to see Finance squeezing out some of the speculators,” Mr Ahern said.

Property speculation has been extremely lucrative in recent years. Too many people are now buying second and third houses — not to live in them, but for short-term profit. This must be discouraged.