Irish Property Market chat II - *read mod note post #1 before posting*

10 hours a week of commuting is approaching 10% of a weekly waking life (only about 110hrs a week).

Going to complete waste - you're not doing something you enjoy, you're not doing something healthy, and you're not getting paid for it. Its just costing you time, effort and money.

That would be quite bad somewhere like NYC or London, but even more-so in a "relatively small city". Thats not a commute anyone should be doing in a small city with any sort of functioning housing market.

Very good point. I used to spend 90 mins a day in the car to and from work. I used the time to listen to podcasts and things that would be useful, but there's only so much that can be done.

These days, I work from home most of the time. However, that presents its own issues as I spend all day alone in the house, which is not good for the head. There are a lot of people who are in very unhealthy working situations due to the housing/population problem.

"The only real way out is to build…"

With respect, I think that this line is simply years out of date. There are building sites up and down the country, and just trying to get a builder to do a job is very difficult. In spite of this, only around 30-40k houses are built each year. It would seem to me that this is simply the limit that can be delivered.

I don't like to keep saying the same thing, but to me, the only viable way to improve the housing situation is to address immigration, and that probably isn't enough anymore.

Quite right to point to immigration as something that needs addressing but the poster, I think, is correct in suggesting more efficient building methods and tax incentives to assemble modular homes in Ireland. A balanced approach is what is needed, imo.

We should see those 2 things happen this year, as commercial construction has flatlined and there will be a diversion of resource to residential.

This is one of the reasons the govt are confident of breaking the 40k new homes mark this year.

The new planning act also comes into effect, which will make judicial reviews much more difficult to implement and will help shut down a lot of nimby protests about new homes being built.

We stil need immigration to provide services, maintain MNC jobs and so forth; so limiting it is a balancing act.

We are at full employment with job vacancies everywhere. We need workers.

BusConnects, as an example, looks like being delayed yet again because we dont have enough drivers and we havent had enough drivers for literally years.

Every bar, cafe, hospital, retail store in Dublin is crying out for staff.

We need qualified, skilled, workers who will actually work.

Unqualified immigrants, some of whom don't even speak English, are not helping the housing crisis by sitting in housing, at great cost to the state and Irish tax payers, not working.

Its completely possible to tailor immigration to maximise the former, and minimize the latter.

You still tying to equate all immigration as being the same, and all as needed, is either you being deliberately obtuse or pushing a very damaging bias.

ie for example:

You've been told that repeatedly in this thread - copy Denmark's asylum policies to reduce the numbers of asylum seekers arriving by 90%, reduce the numbers of non-EU lower income / less skilled / less essential work visas issued (the starting point for them currently is €33k pa, barely above minimum wage), and reduce the numbers of non-EU student visas greatly for a start.

It would be possible to shave off 30k-50k a year arrivals with very minimal negative economic impact (quite the opposite in fact..), and none whatsoever on housing sector building capacity. That would effectively be adding tens of thousands of housing units a year to our output.

Asylum seekers are less than 20k of the 150k immigrants that arrive each year, but lets say the tougher conditions mean we only get 10k.

Low skilled jobs doesnt mean low value. If nobody from the EU is filling jobs in hospitals, retail, hospitality and care, then we need people from outside the EU.

We could reduce the numbers of non EU students, but how many are there and what impact would it have on the overall immigration numbers?

Maybe we could reduce immigration by 30k annually with the above approach. My main concern would be the low skilled jobs going unfilled and the impact to public services.

I believe housing completions, unbelievably, are to fall... this housing emergency for some, is get a richer scheme for those in power, that's why it will get worse for some and better for others. Prices are still rising at an alarming rate... at this stage your best bet, is to get yourself on the housing list as soon as you can if you're young and get as good as free housing, or pay e2400 a month for your one bed apartment in certain areas of Dublin, that are as good as free if you're in social housing …

If they were serious about housing, they would actually put a freeze on commercial development, for at least 2 years, no more data centers, divert available resources to housing and hotel etc.

If they wanted to increase supply, here you go, for example , you crane one of these or a larger one, onto an existing site, that is serviced, the definition of sustainable, won't happen though, no money in it to gouge out of working people for decades...

Some more data on where the work permits are going

Just shy of 40k permits issued in 2024

25% jump on 2023

Health care quite dominant

Modular homes could well be part of the solution. Is planning an issue with these?

The govt have touted similar solutions for IPAS for a few years now, but I dont think many have actually been delivered. Why not?

If You put up one of these on your land, max 25 square metre without PP, you're not meant to live in them. I.e they shouldn't have a bathroom and kitchen. Worst case, you get inspected and they tell you to take out bathroom or kitchen. What are they going to do, put a guard outside every night, to make sure it's not going to be lived in? Lol...

Those scum, create a depraved situation and then tell you what they will and won't permit. You dont ask in this country, you do. Several of my mates have these up on their parents property in Dublin. Ten thousand saved a year minimum in south Dublin, to live in a **** house share. They can be craned in and out and sold at any time, used as garden room , gym, rented out.. they are a brilliant investment...

These modern small homes are luxury compared to many of the **** hole rooms in rented houses... I should know, I am frequently in these dumps as part of my job.

But look, don't listen to me, go put, spend hundreds of thousands in rent from your early twenties on, into your late 30's /40' s etc.. be a walking poverty case and bow to your government overlords...

This is really bad advice, and shouldn't be allowed here as it will cost someone alot of money, if you're going to build a shed in your back yard to live in you will require planning permission.

Having a legal pathway for modular homes to be accepted and pass planning requirements is the key, if we want modular to be part of the national housing solution.

a shed is what you store your lawnmower it etc… It will amaze you, but these structures, low and behold, are built from steel, timber, they use the exact same building materials, that are used in houses… believe it or not, they dont create special "shed" materials…

What is your advice, given you reject this? Live at home long into adulthood? house share in a kip for a fortune, blowing through tens of thousands before you realise, "oh ****, this is actually a serious probem that I should have considered much sooner?"…emigrate?live in a tent?