Tail is wagging the dog, again - Property market dysfunction

The fall in Dublin house prices for November is so small — just 0.1%— that it may be unwise to suggest that the policy that decrees that prospective mortgage holders must have 20% of the purchase price of a property before applying for a home loan is working.

Nevertheless, it is reassuring that the relentless climb in prices, so reminiscent of the overture to our last economic collapse, has stalled if only momentarily.

The CSO reports prices across the State rose by 0.5% in November and are 16.2% higher than a year ago. Despite the tiny fall last month, house prices in Dublin are up 22.4%; apartment prices are 26.8% higher.

These figures describe a dysfunctional market and an environment that most people will find more than daunting. They underline again how very poorly we manage these things and how our almost reverential regard for what we describe as “property rights” has an undue and negative influence on how many ordinary people can live their lives.

This Government was elected on a reform ticket but have, by and large, not delivered. Buying a family home, especially as wages are, in real terms, falling, has become a fantasy rather than a possibility for far too many people.

This is a complex problem and the Government may have left it too late to make any meaningful impact to help people struggling with the realities of our free-for-all market and the insecurity renting a home implies.