Vol. 525 No. 3
358 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the total number of local authority houses allocated to tenants in each local authority in the year ending 1 October 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25161/00]
The information is not available in my Department.
359 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the total number of local authority houses built and or allocated in each year from 1985 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25162/00]
The number of local authority dwellings completed or acquired and the number of first time lettings of dwellings for each local authority and nationally is published in my Department's Annual Bulletin of Housing Statistics, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library.
Question No. 360 taken with Question No. 298.
361 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason local authority tenant purchasers are paying higher interest rates than those charged by other financial institutions; if his attention has been drawn to the existence of this discrimination against people in this category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25164/00]
362 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the plans he has to reduce the interest rates charged to house borrowers who are holders of local authority mortgages under the HFA, SDA, annuity, income related or shared ownership loan systems to commercial market levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25165/00]
363 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason discriminatory interest rates are charged to local authority mortgage holders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25166/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 361 to 363, inclusive, together.
The interest rate on local authority housing loans is determined by the Housing Finance Agency by reference to mortgage rates prevailing in the financial market. The current variable rate to borrowers is 5.75%. The current fixed interest rate available on local authority loans is 6.5% for a period of five years. These rates compare favourably with the equivalent rates charged by commercial lending agencies.
Certain fixed interest rate loans issued by local authorities prior to 1988 carry rates in excess of these levels. These fixed interest rates reflect the cost of long-term funds prevailing at the time the loans were advanced and are fixed for the life of the loan. The costs of reducing the fixed rates on these loans would be substantial and would have to be borne by the Exchequer, the Housing Finance Agency or the local authorities.
Borrowers with local authority fixed rate mortgages are free, since 1980, to redeem such loans without any interest rate penalty and refinance them in the private sector. This is a very significant concession. Borrowers with building society-bank fixed rate mortgages on the other hand are obliged to pay significant redemption penalties of up to six months interest or more in the event of early redemption.
In the past five years the amount outstanding to the local loans fund and the Housing Finance Agency in fixed interest rate loans has reduced significantly, from £509 million to £218 million, indicating that many borrowers have availed of this concession.
Question No. 364 taken with Question No. 148.
