Eoin Ó Broin
Question:74. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of houses available at prices below €280,000 across the State on sites benefiting from LIHAF. [9685/18]
View answerTuesday, 27 February 2018
Questions (74)
Written answers
34 projects, at a total cost of €226 million, received preliminary approval for funding in March 2017 under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF). Local authorities were allowed to proceed to design phase on all of these projects, pending final approval and sign-off of a grant agreement between my Department and Local Authorities.
To date, I have given final approval for 30 of the 34 infrastructure projects which will activate supply of some 20,000 housing units, and grant agreements in respect of those projects have been signed. The balance of the projects are being finalised or have been moved for consideration under LIHAF 2 later in 2018.
Within the 20,000 units being advanced, it is expected that increased numbers of social housing over and above the 10% under Part V will be provided. Subject to the planning process and the eventual development applications made, it is estimated that approximately 3,300 of the 20,000 new homes will be for social housing purposes, made up of Part V units and additional social housing which will be provided on the 13 State-owned sites benefiting from the LIHAF-funded enabling infrastructure. On most of these publicly-owned sites, additional affordable housing will also be provided for sale or for rent.
As required under the scheme criteria and conditions, a key focus has been to ensure that there is a proportionate dividend for the State’s investment in infrastructure, as demonstrated by either provision of housing at scale at certain prices, a proportionate reduction in house prices across all of the homes being facilitated or a specified number of homes which will benefit from a larger price reduction. I intend to publish summary details on all the approved and advancing projects, once final positions regarding the remaining projects have been reached.
It is not possible to provide an exact number of houses that will be available at prices below €280,000 as it will depend on the final mix of house sizes on each site (which information will not be available until planning permission is approved for each site) and it will also depend on the market price at time of sale.
However, based on the information provided by the local authorities in their local agreements and analysis of current house prices in the areas concerned, and recognising the commercial sensitivity around some of the details in the agreements reached, it is expected that at least a third of the projects are likely to have three-bed homes for sale for €280,000 or less. It is also expected that many of the other projects, including within the Dublin area, will have one- and two-bed homes for sale around or under this price point. The majority of the projects will also have some starter homes available for between €280,000 and €320,000.