Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
599. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on an owner-occupier guarantee in housing developments to secure homes exclusively for first-time buyers and other owner-occupiers under Housing for All. [43311/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Housing for All strategy, the Government plans to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 new homes per year over the next decade.
Under Housing Policy Objective 1.10, of the “Supporting Homeownership and Increasing Affordability” pillar of “Housing for All”, the Government committed to introducing a form of ‘owner-occupier guarantee’, which would enable Local Authorities to specify the proportion of houses and duplexes in a development for owner-occupiers.
In support of this commitment the Government introduced a series of measures in May 2021 designed to prohibit the bulk buying of houses and duplexes. This included the Section 28 Guidelines for Planning Authorities “Regulation of Commercial Institutional Investment in Housing” to planning authorities which aimed to prevent multiple units being sold to a single buyer.
The Section 28 Guidelines aim to provide an ‘owner-occupier’ guarantee by ensuring that new ‘own-door’ houses and duplex units in housing developments can no longer be bulk-purchased by institutional investors in a manner that causes the displacement of individual purchasers or social and affordable housing, including cost-rental. The Guidelines included requirements that a new form of condition be inserted in applicable new planning permissions, to the effect that:
(1) all houses would have to be made available for sale and for first occupation by separate, individual households for a period of years after completion of the home. (In the case of mixed developments, the provision only applies to the houses and duplex units and not apartments.);
(2) exempts housing to be provided for social or affordable purposes from this requirement; and
(3) if, after a period of two years, the local authority is satisfied that despite reasonable efforts, a market has not emerged, the condition will lapse.
On 9 June 2022, Minister O’Brien published a progress update on the Section 28 planning measures introduced in May 2021 to increase home ownership and restrict the practice of bulk purchasing by institutional investors. It demonstrates that almost 16,000 residential units have been ring-fenced for individual buyers and restricted from bulk buying or multiple sales to a single purchaser. My Department will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these measures and will provide a further update at the end of Q4 2022.
Further complementary measures have also been taken in addition to these guidelines. The Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act 2021 (No. 40 of 2021) came into effect on 17th December 2021. Section 7 of this Act provides that the housing strategy prepared by a local authority shall take into account the need to ensure that home ownership as a tenure type is provided for and estimated in its housing strategy.
This amendment supports the implementation of Housing Policy Objective 1.10 and introduces the principle of home ownership, as a specific tenure type within a local authority’s housing strategy, with particular regard to developments comprising houses and duplexes and gives further legislative effect to the provisions of the Section 28 Guidelines issued in May 2021.
In addition to the above, a 10% stamp duty levy was introduced by the Government for the cumulative purchase of 10 or more residential houses in a 12 month period. This policy was aimed at ensuring a level playing field for traditional family home buyers, including but not limited to first-time buyers, while facilitating vital investment in high density apartments.
