I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion concerning tackling the cost of living. On Tuesday, 15 February 2022, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 80(2), that division must be taken now.
Tackling the Cost of Living - Institutional Investors in the Residential Property Market: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Pearse Doherty on Tuesday, 15 February 2022:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— the housing crisis continues to worsen for renters and first-time buyers;
— residential property prices have increased on average by 14 per cent in the last year according to the most recently published Residential Property Price Index by the Central Statistics Office; and
— average rents nationally now stand at €1,524 per month, an average of 10.3 per cent higher than the same period in the year previous, with the average rent in Dublin now standing at €2,056, a rise of 8.9 per cent;
further notes that:
— the expanding involvement of institutional investors, which include Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) introduced by the Fine Gael-led Government in the Finance Act 2013, and Irish Real Estate Funds (IREFs) is having a detrimental effect on the Irish residential property market and the private rental sector;
— the tax advantages and exemptions gifted by the Government lock struggling home buyers and renters out of affordable accommodation from the new supply coming on the market and are a factor in the massive increase in rents being charged;
— REITs and IREFs pay no corporation tax on income from their property rental businesses nor capital gains tax accruing on the disposal of assets of their property rental businesses;
— institutional investors have developed monopolistic and oligopolistic pricing power in local areas throughout the State;
— this is distorting rental and property markets to the detriment of workers, families and struggling home buyers, and is pricing middle and low-income earners out of purchasing or renting from the private market;
— a recently published research report by BNP Paribas Real Estate states that 4,900 private rental sector properties were bulk purchased by investment funds in 2021 at 32 per cent above average asking prices; and
— investment by these institutional investors in the residential property market reached €2.27 billion in 2021, and is expected to grow in this and subsequent years without immediate policy intervention; and
calls on the Government to:
— introduce legislation to end the tax advantages and exemptions granted by the Government to institutional investors, including REITs and IREFs, in the residential property market;
— introduce legislation to impose a stamp duty surcharge on the purchase of residential property by institutional investors, including REITs and IREFs;
— amend the Planning and Development Act 2000, to empower planning authorities to determine that the tenure mix of all new residential developments is based on local tenure need as determined by the Housing Need and Demand Assessment;
— repeal the "Build to Rent and Shared Accommodation Sectors" section of the "Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments – Guidelines for Planning Authorities" (2018); and
— provide additional capital funding to local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to forward purchase such developments for the provision of social, affordable rental and affordable purchase homes, given some developments require forward purchase agreements to ensure their viability and delivery.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 2:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes that:
— a substantial increase in the supply of new homes is the only route to solving Ireland's housing crisis;
— delivering the target of an average of 33,000 homes per annum will require significant private investment alongside our unprecedented levels of public investment;
— the Government has provided the largest ever housing budget in the history of the State to support commitments and actions in Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland, with more than €20 billion in funding through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency and the Housing Finance Agency until 2026, including increasing funding to local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to provide new build social housing across the State;
— affordability challenges in the rental sector are due, in large part, to a lack of supply in the rental market;
— institutional investors are estimated to own less than 1 per cent of the total housing stock, or 7 per cent of all tenancies, and as such are very unlikely to occupy enough share of the market to have monopolistic or oligopolistic pricing power or indeed to cause distortionary effects; and
— the forward commitment model is driving real increases in supply, with sectoral reports noting that three-quarters of bulk-purchased units in 2021 were bought under forward commitment models and may not have been developed in the absence of such arrangements;
recognises that:
— given constraints in the domestic lending environment, without non-bank investment the situation in the rental market would be considerably more challenging;
— capital is particularly required at the development stage, where an estimated €10 billion of private capital will be required annually to ensure the provision of social, affordable and private homes;
— where institutional investment brings a profit, a fair share of taxation should be paid, and steps have been taken in recent Finance Acts to address issues identified with institutional investment regimes;
— Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) companies are a common and internationally recognised form of collective investment in long-term rental assets, and the REIT regime requires annual distribution of profits for taxation at the level of the shareholder;
— the Irish Real Estate Fund regime is a set of additional measures imposed on funds investing in Irish property assets to ensure collection of tax on profits derived from Irish property; and
— the Government has also introduced both fiscal and regulatory measures to address certain activities by corporate investors that may be detrimental to the market, including through the introduction of the 10 per cent Stamp Duty rate on bulk purchasing of houses; and
acknowledges that:
— the Government's Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland strategy outlines the Government's plan to increase affordability and housing supply by targeting the delivery of, on average, 33,000 new homes per annum out to 2030;
— €4 billion was allocated towards housing in Budget 2022 and this includes €2.6 billion in capital funding, which will be used to deliver 9,200 social homes, the vast bulk of which will be new build;
— a key challenge to securing development finance is commercial viability, without which it may not be possible to attract sufficient funding;
— the Government is committed to improving supply of housing and affordability for first-time buyers and notes that the first affordable and Cost Rental homes are now beginning to come to the market, some at rates 40 per cent and 50 per cent lower than market rent;
— the Government has expanded the Part V planning requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000, and increased the contribution required from 10 per cent to 20 per cent to include affordable and Cost Rental housing; and
— through Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland, the Government is implementing a multi-faceted approach to housing delivery that is working and will help significantly increase supply and improve affordability for families and individuals wishing to secure a home.
- (Minister for Finance)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 71; Níl, 60; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Colm.
- Butler, Mary.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
- Chambers, Jack.
- Collins, Niall.
- Costello, Patrick.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Cowen, Barry.
- Creed, Michael.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donnelly, Stephen.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Duffy, Francis Noel.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Flaherty, Joe.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Harris, Simon.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Hourigan, Neasa.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Leddin, Brian.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Matthews, Steven.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McGuinness, John.
- McHugh, Joe.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Noonan, Malcolm.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Brien, Joe.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Ring, Michael.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Smyth, Ossian.
- Stanton, David.
- Troy, Robert.
Níl
- Andrews, Chris.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Barry, Mick.
- Berry, Cathal.
- Brady, John.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Joan.
- Collins, Michael.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Pa.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McNamara, Michael.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Richard.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Ryan, Patricia.
- Shanahan, Matt.
- Sherlock, Sean.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Tully, Pauline.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Jack Chambers and Marc Ó Cathasaigh; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Amendment declared carried.
Amendment No. 1 not moved.
Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to.
The Dáil divided: Tá, 71; Níl, 60; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Colm.
- Butler, Mary.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
- Chambers, Jack.
- Collins, Niall.
- Costello, Patrick.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Cowen, Barry.
- Creed, Michael.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donnelly, Stephen.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Duffy, Francis Noel.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Flaherty, Joe.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Harris, Simon.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Hourigan, Neasa.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Leddin, Brian.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Matthews, Steven.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McGuinness, John.
- McHugh, Joe.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Noonan, Malcolm.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Brien, Joe.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Ring, Michael.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Smyth, Ossian.
- Stanton, David.
- Troy, Robert.
Níl
- Andrews, Chris.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Barry, Mick.
- Berry, Cathal.
- Brady, John.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Joan.
- Collins, Michael.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Pa.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McNamara, Michael.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Richard.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Ryan, Patricia.
- Shanahan, Matt.
- Sherlock, Sean.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Tully, Pauline.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Jack Chambers and Marc Ó Cathasaigh; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Question declared carried.
Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 9.06 p.m. go dtí 9 a.m., Dé Déardaoin, an 17 Feabhra 2022.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.06 p.m. until 9 a.m. on Thursday, 17 February 2022.