Some reasons why houses are more expensive in 2024 than years ago

thinkabouit

If you had a blank sheet of paper & had to design a housing policy from start, surely you’d want strong family connections & neighbours living in that area for the long term.

The best places to live in my town are the area’s where people have established themselves and living there for long term. You tend to look after the place better

The complete opposite of that & the place’s where you wouldnt want to be settling is in areas where people are coming & going. Those places tend to be not looked after as well as people are coming & going so they don’t care

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121601617#Comment_121601617

Not a chance of that happening. It firstly wouldn't be eligible and secondly it would be political suicide.

They did bring in a very small incentive plan but gave it very little publicity and let it die. It seemed to be politicians not wanting to be seen as forcing elderly people to move.

What they should do is change some of the houses in the neighbourhoods to be suitable for multiple OAPs so they can downsize within the communities they can home and free up entire houses.

The main issue is Irish sentiment for property but proper inheritance and tax incentives would work for some to get over it.

The thing is time will sort the issue out one way or another but in the mean time you will have under occupancy and lack of homes close to work at affordable prices. Location is still a key aspect of value so these properties will not become cheap again. Gentrification of areas will continue but the poorer areas will still be more generational homes and not become desirable areas for much longer. I doubt Darndale will ever gentrify but it could in another 50 years unlike the private estates that already have in less time.

This is not uniquely an Irish problem but people downsizing is much more common in Europe mainland so less of an issue

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121602297#Comment_121602297

It's probably not possible but if the government could buy a row of houses as they come on the market and then knock them and build apartments.

Sounds very expensive though.

ednwireland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121602314#Comment_121602314

can you imagine the objections, from everywhere. especially all political parties.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121602479#Comment_121602479

It doesn't seem realistic anyway.

I'm just thinking of parts of Drimnagh which have huge back gardens, so the numbers might work. Eg here :

https://maps.app.goo.gl/c7oZssUWMZLCVkTz6

The downsizing idea has merit. The idea of reconfiguring suburban houses to house a few elderly people might work but even then I'm not sure.

It would be interesting to see data on elderly people occupying 3 and 4 bedroom homes in suburban Dublin and Cork.

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121591266#Comment_121591266

not everyone can work from home though, id say the majority cant do it everyday at this stage. i dont agree with that either tbh but thats a different discussion.

i agree that people dont necessarily have the right to live exactly where they choose but i also dont think anyone should be forced into a multi-hour commute either

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121602720#Comment_121602720

It's a lifestyle choice vs what you earn.. cutting your cloth etc. We moved from Dublin to Meath in 2014 when we couldnt afford to rent in Dublin. Changed a 10 minute commute to a 45-55+ minute commute. That was before WFH. If we both could not work from home 100% then we would not have had wexford in scope, and would have had to have compromised something else - ie either earn more, commute more, or downsize.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121587014#Comment_121587014

25 years ago a €50k salary has the same general purchasing power of an €86k one today. That's worth remembering. Someone on €50k today has the same general purchasing power as someone on €28900 25 years ago.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121602297#Comment_121602297

CPOs on private houses would, as far as I know, be unconstitutional. There is, however a bill to change the constitution to read as follows:

The State, accordingly, shall delimit the right to private property where it is necessary to ensure the common good and to vindicate the said right to housing for all residents of Ireland.

Very vague and open-ended, if you ask me. Also, they say "residents" and not "citizens". That's not by accident, I would presume.

Regarding the political feasibility of such a thing, I would not be so sure that it would be politically suicidal. Public support can be drummed up, and the state is very good at swaying public opinion. Just look at what happened over the last few years.

I hope I'm wrong, but I would not be surprised in the least if PCOs on granny's house are something that will be attempted in the years to come.

Villa05

It's not that difficult to do a survey to see the demand from older couples to downsize

I live in such an estate and many would love the option. Build on the survey and see who would be willing to sign up

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121600625#Comment_121600625

My great grandparents lived in a tiny 30 sqm terraced 1 bed house in Bray without a bathroom and a bathroom - with 11 kids.

Coincidentally about 5 years ago a colleague rented the same house with his girlfriend. The only difference is that there is now a tiny extension out the back of it with a bathroom in it off the kitchen. They moved because it was too small for them.

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058330270/some-reasons-why-houses-are-more-expensive-in-2024-than-years-ago

Change "houses" to any consumer good you wish from chocolates to candles to curtain to cars - and that's just the letter C.

You forget that wages have risen for everyone, taxes have dropped for everyone and improvements in house building especially energy efficiency saves tens of thousands over the years.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121604071#Comment_121604071

I know lots of old folks who would be willing to downsize. The problem is they have to move far away from where their lives are.

If there were retirement communities with activities, transport, entertainment, social gathering places, clinics etc, like you get in the US and even a few ive seem in the UK, then this would be much more likely. But in Ireland the best they would do would be build a heap of tiny houses on a site with nothing else on the edge of some random town, and then expect people to uproot their entire lives and live there for the same price as they get for their current house.

Nobody will ever take that up.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121606441#Comment_121606441

Yeah it works in America cos Florida's climate is so much better.

There's no equivalent in Ireland except the "sunny south east" of Wexford and Waterford.

They would have to be near their own community or else near their grandkids.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121604071#Comment_121604071

I'm tempted to email Darragh O'Brien about it.

These older estates have brilliant amenities for raising a family like schools and sports clubs already there.

Villa05

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121606441#Comment_121606441

Houses in the 300 to 400k bracket while 2 bed apartments are 200 to 250k in the same area I'm referring to.

Young couples trapped in apartments, senior citizens trapped in 3/4 bed houses. Multiple grants drawn down to make houses elderly friendly

Sometimes it as simple as putting squares in square spaces and circles in circle spaces

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121606500#Comment_121606500

You are never going to get an old couple who can talk from their front gardens or just pop into all their neighbors at random that they've known for 50 years to move into an apartment. Unless you provide all the services and move the people they know into the apartments beside them too. Never.

They also like to have room for the kids who have moved away to come home and stay for a while and have their grand children too.

Old people have large lives. They dont just shrink down to self contained couples when they get old.

Claw Hammer

House prices are more expensive because the prices have gone up.

Moving house is very high on the list of stressful life experiences ranking along with bereavement and divorce. many old people don't have the ready cash to buy a smaller house. The conveyancing system is too uncertain. they can't sell until they buy. they can't buy until they sell.

Some councils had a scheme where they bought houses in areas where elderly people live. Each house is converted to two apartments. Each apartment is offered to an elderly local. The local surrenders their own house and gets a cash payment. That way the old person stays in their own area in good quality accommodation and some of their equity released to aid their quality of life. Housing supply in the area increases as two families can now be accommodated in the free up houses.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121607225#Comment_121607225

That's a good idea.

Good post.

Iguarantee

Having lived in the UK, the cost of living is surely lower than Ireland.

Cheaper food, cheaper cars, cheaper houses, cheaper motor tax, cheaper transport.

Villa05

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121606551#Comment_121606551

That's why you do a survey to see who's interested. What you or I think is irrelevant

A smaller lower maintenence/cost property would appeal to many in my area with the added advantage of releasing equity in there current residence to help fund a more comfortable retirement

Lots of win wins here, if properly managed

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121619937#Comment_121619937

Yeah it seems like a good idea.

I'm surprised Darragh O'Brien hasn't come up with it.

Is it worth emailing him about it?

agoodusername

Speaking of downsizing, I've always had a slightly romantic and perhaps to idealistic idea of making a big dent in this crisis by genuinely trying to build Florida-style over 55s/60s communities maybe just outside the edge of commuter range. On here we're all too cynical to believe in the state being involved, but if we could imagine them for a second actually contributing to the creation of these projects with amenities to suit that age range, it could be really pleasant.

A few of these places filled with 2.5 bedroom, well-insulated and disability friendly properties could be very popular if done right. Get some new local link buses doing a regular trip to the nearest railway station and the ball would be rolling. In this perfect world the HSE would even be able to adjust to provide a slightly more efficient service given the age bracket involved.

It was highlighted in a comment above, but the houses would need to be a bit cheaper, as too often we see the jump in price from a modern 2 bed apartment to a 4 bed in a mature estate being smaller than you'd expect.

Even done on a small enough scale, say 17,000 people moving would probably bring 10,000 or so homes to the market. The ageing population will also exacerbate the benefit of action in this area.

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121601977#Comment_121601977

If each couple have 2 kids then that is steady state. No rise in population and I think we have a birth rate currently of about 1.76 per woman so the natural growth is negative right now.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121619937#Comment_121619937

I think you'll probably find though when it all comes down to leaving an area where you have had deeps roots for half a century and all your friends love around you and you can all call in to see each other etc that most people in their latter years just want to stay where they are. I know plenty of people who decided to downsize and then when they went looking and all the ins and outs were considered decided to stay where they were.

I do have one aunt who downsized though. They are now sorry they ever moved. They just dont like the new situation compared to the one they left.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121621333#Comment_121621333

That kind of "retirement village" is the only way it would work. We just dont have that in Ireland. I dont see us having it either.

They have some of those in the UK that work very well.

herbalplants

Probably some of these retirement villages will pop around other EU countries where the weather is warmer, cost of living is cheaper and health services are better. Obviously the cost of the house will be way cheaper than the muck we see currently in Ireland.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121621418#Comment_121621418

Be careful.

Although the fertility rate is below the replacement rate, the natural change in the population is still strongly positive.

Add in net migration, and the population is rising strongly.

RichardAnd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121626686#Comment_121626686

The immigration to Ireland in the last year alone has been gruesome:

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2023/11/29/immigration-rose-significantly-in-2022-23-but-emigration-grew-too/

Until this is tackled and reasonable immigration is enforced, we will have a perpetual shortage of housing. I know that people don't like to hear these thing, but I like to deal with the world as it is.

SharkMX

Overheard someone giving out about immigration on the train this morning.

"What immigration did to housing is now happening to hotels too. Have you seen what it costs to stay in a hotel nowadays."

Thought it was funny, but i cant disagree tbh.