Vol. 531 No. 2
55 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government his views on whether the Government's decisions arising from the third Bacon report have had the desired effect in view of the continuing major housing problem; and if he will reverse the decisions in this regard. [4726/01]
In June 2000, the Government published its policy document, Action on Housing, which set out a comprehensive package of measures, taking account of recommendations made by Dr. Bacon in his report, The Housing Market in Ireland: An Economic Evaluation of Trends and Prospects, and including a range of improvements to the social and affordable housing schemes. The key objectives of the Government's strategy are to maximise housing output to meet the continuing strong demand for housing; curb short-term speculative demand; strengthen the position of first-time purchasers in the market; increase the supply of social and affordable housing; and improve the institutional arrangements to facilitate the delivery of housing related infrastructure and thereby increase overall housing supply.
The indications to date are positive following Action on Housing. Housing output in 2000 rose by 7% over the 1999 total, to almost 50,000 units and house price data for recent months indicate further moderation in the rate of increase in average house prices. There is also firm evidence that first-time buyers are gaining an increasing share of the new housing market.
Other leading indicators of housing output, such as planning permissions and availability of serviced land, are also very positive. Almost 86,500 housing units were granted planning permission in 2000, an increase of 13% on the 76,500 units granted permission in 1999 and the stock of serviced residential building land available now is very encouraging and is set to improve significantly going forward.
The stamp duty changes introduced in Action on Housing were designed both to ease the burden on first-time buyers and owner occupiers and to discourage speculative investment which was negatively impacting on the ability of first-time buyers to enter the housing market. An anti-speculative tax was also introduced to discourage short-term speculative investment by those seeking to make a quick capital gains, with exemptions in certain cases. Other measures in Action on Housing include an increase in the income eligibility limits for the affordable housing and shared ownership schemes, provision of site subsidy for these schemes and an increase in the mortgage allowance.
