The accelerating fall in Sinn Féin support

the shinnerbots seem watery and weak. They need to regather themselves for the bell will be tolling soon….

Ye are captured by this idea that all the value being diverted to the few is ok and people should be happy with it.

Sure in the 70's wasn't a damp bedsit fine, at a time when we were a very poor country, so why would we not be happy with the same standard when we are one of the richest countries in the world. Sure we are happy out to have the fruits of our increased productivity and wealth go to the few. They deserve it sure.

Also, the expectation of what you can get we your money has always been higher in a less desirable location that the more desirable, so what somebody can get for a certain amount in a provincial town could reasonably be expected to be more than in a large city.

In addition, the mortgage affordability guidance changed not due to interest rates, but due to the fact that prices increased, and we had to do something to make sure the investor class and vested interest in the construction supply chains could continue to cream it. That you cant see a problem with the below chart is beyond comprehension.

Full disclosure - my own property is valued 4 times the outstanding mortgage and twice what I paid so my own vested interest is the status quo. But the countries interest is that significant change is required.

All grants do when there is a limit to supply is increase the price. Grants in the absence of supply is just a transfer of wealth from taxpayer to developer / landowner / investors.

It is not really a silly response. I heard SF spokespersons and indeed their supporters on here going on about the unprecedented length of the policy paper. When I looked at it, the padding was incredible, with actually only about ten pages containing any policy. #

This is the Current Affairs forum, so poking fun at an inadequate policy paper by comparing it to a Leaving Cert project (which is about the level it is pitched at) is par for the course. There is no thinking through of the implications of the proposals, the costs are understated, the obstacles are underestimated, and it is notable that you don't analyse or criticise the substance of any of my comments, you just throw a jibe at the style of my post.

I own my own house. But I'm not obsessed as to it's value. Most are the same, our house is not a trading commodity. In the 90/00s we got sucked into that, trading up every few years, that's over. So if any political party proposes a scheme whereby the supply meets demand and house prices stagnate, I'm not fussed. BTW a major reason for high house prices is the spec nowadays. One cannot, because of that compare house build costs of 40 and 50 years ago. There is no magic tap to supply.

They also want more hereditary privilege in handing down social houses by generation.

That graph also ignores other factors. For example, in the mid 90s onwards house prices increased in part due to more families with 2 incomes compared to one.

Enoch has stolen Eoins limelight already. I doubt SF are too worried, they are probably glad to have the big launch pass without too much scrutiny.

It is a difficult read, very unclear, lacking detail and full of padding.

It seems that EOB had an 80 page target to meet and he kept going until he reached it.

C grade for a good effort

😂 Yes, 2005 is the standard of affordability when we were in the middle of an irrational housing bubble 😂

There isn’t good data on median wages then but the average was €45k then. It’s now €54k.

And the chart is relative to average wage, not absolute value

So what’s your point here? 2005 was not peak property prices.

So you were arguing that 2005 had higher relative property prices so we shouldn't complain about them now but also that it hadn't higher absolute prices? Really?

This, basically, isn't something a left-wing (or pretend left-wing like SF) party will consider to be a problem.

Realistically, I don't either - just uncap differential rents. People will decide very quickly if they want to continue paying full market rent based on their income if they do no longer qualify; and the housing body gets more money to spend.

Some councils have already uncapped - Kildare only caps for 1 beds - which they barely even have; but Dublin City Council charges a max of 423 a week for their biggest properties no matter how how the income in the household is.

But it wasn’t the peak? Who had trouble getting a property in 2005?

The fact that we are only there shows are remarkably effective the regulations have been in a time of supply shortage. We are seeing in the last 18 months how loosening those regulations have counteracted higher interest rates.

Saving has to be considered here in a 100% vs. 90% mortgage scenario.