Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 October 2021
111. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a detailed explanation of the off-balance sheet techniques used by him or his officials, as referred to recently (details supplied), to benefit foreign investors and confer on them an advantage over Irish retail customers. [51674/21]
View answerThe Government’s new housing plan Housing For All (HfA) will see an increased provision of social housing with a much greater emphasis on new build by Local Authorities and an ending of long-term leasing of private accommodation by Local Authorities through phasing out new leasing projects and focussing on new-build to provide social homes.
During the lifetime of HfA, there will be a total of 3,500 homes secured through long term leasing. The overall annual targets will decrease from 1,300 homes in 2022 to 200 homes in 2025. The phasing out of leasing will allow us to address a greater proportion of social housing need in the short run within a tight budgetary environment whilst the other benefits of HfA are being realised. As the programme is wound down, the additional units delivered through leasing in an off-balance sheet way will free up fiscal space for other spending requirements, including the housing capital programmes.
My Department is opposed to institutional investors purchasing inappropriate properties such as housing estates in bulk where there is no evidence of real additional supply. The Government has clearly signalled that they should not be competing with first time buyers and other home purchasers, and have taken urgent actions through a mix of planning and taxation measures to ensure this.
However, it should be noted that institutional investment in leasing represents a small proportion of total leasing output to date and an even smaller proportion of total housing output, although interest and engagement has been increasing. According to CBRE, the total number of residential units under institutional ownership in Ireland is estimated to be greater than 15,550 at the end of 2020 which equates to less than one percent of the total housing stock in Ireland (and approximately 5% of all rental tenancies). Also, a report by the Department of Finance in 2019 found that the combined purchasing activity of institutional investment in the general housing market was low – some 1% of total activity in 2017.
