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Purchases of more than 10 houses at once will attract a stamp duty of 10 per cent, under plans agreed by Government tonight. However, this will not apply to blocks of apartments, while local authorities and approved housing bodies will be exempt as well.
All owner-occupiers will be eligible to buy sections of new housing developments reserved for individual purchase, under the plans .
Originally, it had been planned that the rules would apply to first time buyers only. However, it is understood that the Cabinet agreed a proposal from Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien which would apply to owner-occupiers generally.
This is part of a package of measures intended to deal with the housing crisis and prevent first time buyers and others from being squeezed out by property investment funds. Currently stamp duty on residential property is 1 per cent on the first €1 million.
It will see up to 50 per cent of a housing development put aside for purchase by this category of buyer, alongside the “Part V” commitments on social and affordable housing. That commitment could also rise, to up to thirty per cent of units in certain developments.
It is understood that there will be targeted rules to prevent people circumventing the rules by splitting multiple purchases into individual units. This will work by applying the charge when a buyer purchases the tenth unit within a year - again, this will not apply to apartment developments. There will also be a transition period of three months to allow deals to be completed.
Houses that are put aside for purchase by owner occupiers will be available to buy for a certain period of time after completion, sources said, after which they can be purchased more widely.
It is understood that some elements of the proposed reforms encountered significant resistance from Green members of Cabinet. Sources said that all three Green Ministers raised concerns about the exemption for bulk purchases of apartments - with the new rules only due to apply to purchases of houses and duplexes.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said the measure will be voted on in the Dail on Wednesday. He said it is designed to dissuade the buying up homes that are close to completion, or fully completed, thereby denying first-time buyers the chance of acquiring and owning their own home. “Ensuring that people have access to home ownership in this country is a priority for Government. Building up supply, after a year when construction was forced to close for a significant period of time, is key. Making sure people can access those homes, when they come on stream, is as important,” he said.
Eaarlier the Dáil was told the single most important thing the Government can do to address the housing crisis is to “dramatically increase capital investment”, the Dail has been told.
Sinn Fein housing spokesman Eoin O Broin said that to make a serious dent in the affordable housing crisis the Government must spend €2.8 billion annually to build 20,000 social and affordable homes each year for the next five years.
The structure of financing and delivery should be based on an average purchase price in Dublin of €230,000 and less elsewhere with average rent of between €700 and €900 a month.
He was speaking as he introduced his latest private member’s motion on housing. Government policy, he said “has allowed big investors to swallow up increasing volumes of limited supply of family homes, denying thousands of people from owning their own homes and forcing them to rent at extortionate prices well into the future”.
Minister of State Peter Burke told TDs €620 million has been made available for affordability measures and homes will range from €160,000-€310,000.
Local authority-led direct build affordable housing “will be the central plank of the Government’s plans”, he stressed.
He was speaking as the Government met to consider proposals to deal with the controversy over funds snapping up estates.
Earlier Taoiseach Micheal Martin called for the support of the Opposition to pass legislative measures expected to be introduced in the Dail on Wednesday night to combat investment funds outbidding first time buyers.
He was responding to Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald who warned that the Government must end “all sweetheart tax arrangements enjoyed by these institutional funds”.
Ms McDonald had warned that the stamp duty charged for multiple homes should be more than 15 per cent because Britain had it set at that rate and had to raise it again because it was insufficient to combat multiple purchases.
She also warned against exempting apartments from the Government’s measures, otherwise half of all homes built in Co Dublin would be excluded as would six out of seven homes overall.
During the Dail debate on affordable housing Mr O Broin said the cause of the housing crisis is “an over-reliance on the private sector - developer-led planning, developer-led taxation and developer-led delivery”.
Sinn Fein Finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said that since 2012 house prices have doubled and since 2016 they had jumped by 30 per cent with rents rising by 44 per cent. He said that in his Donegal constituency rents rose by 7 per cent in the past year alone.
Labour TD Duncan Smith said there was huge anger out in the community which would continue and the crisis meant that a lost generation for whom home ownership was out of reach, was in danger of becoming two lost generations.
Social Democrats housing spokesman Cian O’Callaghan that what was lost in determining policy “is a realisation of the huge human cost that housing unaffordability has” and the heartrending stress and anxiety it causes.