The election, having shone light on the issues, represents where comparisons and differences can be made to the UK housing market.
Looking at housing, rent prices around Ireland have risen by 5.2 per cent in the past year and the average monthly price of rent is now €1,403, according to a report from property website Daft.ie on the latest quarter in November 2019. In comparison to Propertymark’s PRS report in November, where rents plummeted in the UK to the lowest in eight months. Furthermore, tenants experiencing rent rises fell by 18 percentage points in November with 32 per cent of agents witnessing an increase in rent prices, down from 50 per cent in October.
The rental report from Daft.ie said that the price of rent in Dublin has had the slowest period of growth since mid-2012. However, prices remain high in every county around the country.
Over the past few years, the homelessness and housing crisis in Ireland has continued to deepen. Figures for December 2019 showed that 9,731 people were in emergency accommodation, including 6,309 adults and 3,422 children.
General Election — where the newly elected party stands on housing and homelessness
Fianna Fáil, the party with the highest number of seats told TheJournal.ie that the party is committed to building 50,000 new social housing units by 2025 which would be made available as part of the ‘Home First’ strategy.
It also aims to increase Rent Supplement and Housing Assistance Payment and plans to increase homeless funding to €250 million per annum and seeks to establish a 'preventing homelessness' fighting fund.
'We will set up a rolling acquisition fund in the Housing Agency to purchase repossessed units and keep those tenants in place. At current repossession numbers we will allocate €168 million to purchase all repossessed Buy to Let units.'
Fianna Fáil
Sinn Féin disrupted the established parties’ legacy of governing by winning the second-highest number of seats, a result that Northern Ireland’s First Minister attributed housing and health rather than any support for Irish unity.
Sinn Féin priorities in government would include building 100,000 new social and affordable homes and ensuring 20 per cent of housing on all new developments is social and affordable.
Ireland's rental market has been continuously getting worse throughout the year. Nonetheless, rents continue to climb and from a base where they are already high compared to wages.
As has been the case throughout the last ten years, there is no quick-fix regulatory solution for the sector. Rather, fixing it will involve the construction of tens of thousands of new rental homes every year for the foreseeable future.
