Pearse Doherty
Question:340. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if non-mortgage purchases of residential property here exceeds the average across Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26190/16]
View answerFriday, 16 September 2016
Questions (340)
Written answers
In terms of recent developments in Ireland, the share of non-mortgage purchases in total annual residential transactions increased from less than 20 per cent at the start of 2011 to close to 55 per cent at the end of 2013. The most recent data relates to the second quarter of 2016, when non-mortgage purchases accounted for approximately 50 per cent of residential property transactions.
As the Deputy is aware, the Central Bank has recently published relevant analysis on this subject and have found that the proportion of non-mortgage transactions in the Irish housing market is cyclical in nature, increasing when the volume of mortgage transactions is low and contracting during periods of expansionary credit.
There does not appear to be any data series available to directly compare the share of non-mortgage purchases in the Irish property market with a European average. However, data is available for the UK - a relevant comparator country - and recent analysis indicates that the proportion of non-mortgage transactions has followed a broadly upward trend since 2007, increasing from approximately 24 per cent to a rate of 36 per cent in the first quarter of 2016.