It’s taking first time buyers in some parts of the country more than 15 years on average to save for a deposit to buy a home.
A new report from the Irish Home Builders’ Association (IHBA) also highlights a large “affordability gap” between first time buyers incomes and median cost of homes in many areas.
That gap is nearly €89,000 in Waterford, over €100,000 in Dublin, €112,000 in Limerick and €132,000 in Cork.
James Benson from the IHBA says developer returns are also so low new builds are becoming less feasible noting “Land is one element but equally services & provision of services and proper land management, we need to see that there’s proper provision of services, currently we’re probably suffering from the lack of investment or the lack of money that was available for investiment over the last number of years and we’re seeing the case of where the provision of those services are place don the new home purchaser because the new homes are paying for the betterment within the whole area”.
He adds that renters thinking of buying also need help commenting “If you’ve a case where an average couple or a young couple are able to pay rent at a certain rate and that’s in excess of what it would be for your mortgage repayment we’ve a structural issue within the housing system there, so the consideration in our view should be given to for those to take into account rental income when they’re applying for a mortgage and equally in any given year you’ve 20% discretions if that was increased and that increase was ring-fenced for first time buyers it might increase affordability & supply”.
