State ready to sharpen its focus on investment in housing

A report by the ESRI suggests the State will play a key role in stimulating a wave of new housing investment, writes Tommy Barker, Property Editor

Appetite for new homes is very strong, and output in 2021 will be not much more than 50-60% of estimated annual need. Picture: iStock

We're very used to reports on the Irish housing market from the country’s economic think-tank and the number crunchers at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) – but, one report out at the start of this month, June 2021, appeared to be quite different.

Instead of looking back, or forward in a short time frame, it took quite a seismic shift, in making a case for the Irish Government to take advantage of the windows of continuing ultra-low interest rates to run the country’s books at a fundable deficit of €4bn-€7bn a year and invest in capital infrastructure, most notably to fund construction of social and affordable housing on a scale not seen for decades — possibly for over a half-century.