Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 March 2013
91. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 207 of 22 May 2012, if he will provide a breakdown of the stock of Irish residential housing in the National Asset Management Agency portfolio, showing the number of units rented and vacant, and showing the number of units being offered for sale and for rent. [14571/13]
View answerI am advised by NAMA that it is continuing to carry out extensive analysis of data on residential property under the control of its debtors and receivers and expects to be in a position to publish the findings from this analysis in its 2012 Annual Report. At this stage in its analysis, NAMA advises that some 10,000 properties securing its loans are currently rented and are generating an annual rental income in excess of €100 million; a further 4,000 vacant houses and apartments have been made available through the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for social housing; and a further 400 properties have been made available for sale under the Agency’s 80/20 Deferred Payment Initiative, which the Agency plans to extend up to a maximum of 750 properties.
NAMA advises that to date sales have been agreed on 120 of the properties included under the 80/20 Initiative. NAMA also advises that in the time required by local authorities to assess and confirm demand for properties identified as being available for social housing, over 750 have been sold or privately let by their owners or, on their behalf, by duly appointed receivers. NAMA advises that the strategy for any given residential property depends on the detail of the asset disposal and asset management plans that have been agreed with individual debtors and receivers and that these plans are subject to on-going review. NAMA advises that the NAMA Board’s policy is that all assets are ultimately intended for sale. NAMA advises that it is not in the business of encouraging its debtors to stockpile assets but that actual sales depend on the level of demand in particular markets segments and on the availability of finance. NAMA further advises that it must also seek to ensure that its debtors do not offer for sale a volume of assets in excess of the current absorption capacity of the market.
