Ireland. The most expensive housing in western Europe

Creation of extra zoned land would be a good thing, imo, but I disagree with the idea that a massive social housing programme is the key. The reason for this is that such a programme would draw upon the same resources (land, labour, building materials etc.) as private housing, making private housing more expensive. Plus, I'm not sure councils are more efficient at building than the private sector. So, while we might create more social homes (great for those who are awarded them), we simultaneously create greater need for them with spiralling upward rents in the private sector.

I think that it is more effective to use private investment money cleverly to build out the bulk new supply. Make it tax-efficient to do so. Encourage "build to rent" developments to ease the extreme pressure in the rental market. Create regulations improving security of tenancy for private tenants.

Another area is to look to innovative building methods such as assembly of imported modular homes as the video in the OP suggests.

These measures, of course, will be resisted and lobbied against by vested interests but it is the pandering to these vested interests that have caused much of the problem in the first place. All attempts at a solution will be resisted and the government need to realise that pandering will no longer work.

We will still social homes, and the building of these needs to increase. But we still need sort out the problem in the private market.

I agree about the modular homes, we should ramp these up quickly.

When I say public homes built by the govt, I mean they assemble their own teams.

They recruit new builders, not take builders from the private workforce. New council jobs are created.

If we are going to grow our population by 100k per year, we need to pull some of those new people into construction jobs.

You cant rely on the private sector to build all the homes when rent caps are in place. There is no ROI and investors are going elsewhere.

Ramp up delivery through the councils, which allows us to remove the rent caps which allows the private investment to flood in.

The average Garda who retires on the highest point of the scale at just under 60k will get a lump sum of about 90k Not going to buy a lot of apartments with that.

BTW could this thread not be retitled to: Ireland. The most expensive (insert whatever you're having yourself) in western Europe

Upskilling and earning the best salary you can is going to improve your chances of owning a home.

Skilled trades will be very highly paid in the future, as AI removes a lot of white collar jobs.

That's not much comfort to someone stuck in a low paying job with a family to support who may be doing just fine until their landlord decides to sell up or raise the rent. Upskilling is a fine buzz word people use when they've done ok for themselves and can't understand why everyone hasn't the same gumption and go getting abilities as themselves

yup, we re goosed, and older generations also better look out, as pension funds all also wrapped up in all of this, and best of luck receiving adequate care as you age, as thats generally provided by younger generations, who also wont be able to meet their own needs, so best of luck with them providing you with your needs!

Unbelievable, but very true.

What else is there to invest in?
Any profits from investments gets taxed at CGT amounts plus investment broker costs on top of that plus the risk of losing your investment.
Property looks a lot safer.

Other countries govts provide housing in retirement and you generally dont need to move out of the home you have been renting whilst working.

In order to do this, a country need a high percetage of publicly owned housing stock, relative to the population.

We have low levels of publicly owned housing stock in ireland, so unless you own privately, you are going to be in trouble when you retire.

The rate of new property construction is not keeping up with population growth.

If I was back in my 20s now… I would either emigrate to Canada, or do something radical.. buy a place with a mate, rent out a room or 2 for cash … the system is rigged.. I would go nuclear…. buy a plot of land, build a log cabin, off grid, FTW … roll all money into savings, investments

The problem is not the investment (in fact we need more of that) but rather the voting bloc that is formed when large numbers of people buy a small number of properties each. They will then tend to block new developments that might compete with them and generally oppose greater supply.

I think the way forward is to incentivise new development. Make that the place for returns. Make merely holding property not particularly attractive.

The way things are going, that majority (property owners) is shrinking, and on coalition formation, you don't need to be the biggest party to get your way...

A supply policy that knocked 100–150k off the national average price is doable if that price change happens slowly (5+ years), which it will. Lots of those "rich" house owners are the parents of the people who are struggling to rent or buy. Sell the increased supply as "let your kids move out and get a place of their own to live", and you'll find a lot of support for it.

Michael Healy Rae will be ok with his 30 buy to let’s - a multi millionaire ……

Two young schoolteachers just bought a house on my road for €970,000.

People who work in Tesco etc… rely on social or subsidised housing for shelter otherwise they'd be living in tents and cars like they do in the US. A lot of people would probably like that given how divided we have become as a nation.