Vol. 513 No. 1
127 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the measures, if any, recognised to have successfully addressed spiralling house prices over the years; the time schedule for new measures to make an impact on current market prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1690/00]
I refer the Deputy to the reply to Question No. 75 on today's Order Paper.
Regarding the measures that have had a positive impact on house prices, I would draw his attention to the range of measures introduced by the Government in its policy documents, Action on House Prices and Action on the Housing Market. The Government's strategy is to maximise housing output where demand is greatest and remove bottlenecks to residential development whether in, for example, the supply of serviced land or the planning process, etc.
Output under the serviced land initiative is expected to exceed original estimates and other key infrastructure projects are progressing well. Additional planning staff have been recruited by local authorities and An Bord Pleanála to remove bottlenecks in processing planning applications. Further initiatives include guidelines to local authorities on increased residential densities to ensure more efficient use of land without compromising on quality of design and the measures proposed in Part V of the Planning and Development Bill 1999, which will require local authorities to prepare housing strategies and to zone sufficient land in their development plans for housing. Authorities will be required to estimate the amount of housing required in their area and up to 20% of land to be used for residential purposes must be made available for social or affordable housing. Measures introduced to assist affordability for lower income and first-time purchasers include the withdrawal of investor incentives, reduced stamp duty rates, a lowering of the capital gains tax rate from 40% to 20% on the sale of land for residential development to speed up the sale of land with development potential, the introduction of the local authority affordable housing scheme and improvements in the local authority shared ownership scheme.
