Who are buying all the new houses?

Emblematic · 11-10-2025 03:53PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123895740#Comment_123895740

Most inward migration is not EU or UK-based.

kneemos · 11-10-2025 05:40PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123897338#Comment_123897338

Actually is. Fifty percent comes from the EU.Another thirteen percent comes from the UK.

Emblematic · 11-10-2025 06:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123897557#Comment_123897557

Sorry, I should have said net-inward migration.

Peregrinus · 13-10-2025 02:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123897663#Comment_123897663

Can you explain this? Net inward migration is just inward migration less outward migration. I don't see how you reckon that particular elements of inward migration are contributing to the net inward migration figure, while other elements are not.

Emblematic · 13-10-2025 02:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123900772#Comment_123900772

Yes, we want to subtract outward migration from the gross-inward migration figures for each component.

At present net-inward migration to Ireland is non-EU/UK based at a little under 50,000 a year. EU/UK based net-immigration is at about 18,000 and there's a small (a few thousand) net-exodus of Irish people.

Someone was disputing this earlier on the thread, saying something to the effect that you would have to close the border with the UK and leave the EU to make any sort of difference.

But, in fact, net-inward migration is mainly not due to these elements.

kneemos · 13-10-2025 06:25PM

E

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123901967#Comment_123901967

Essential workers if they coming from outside the EU. There was also twenty odd thousand Ukrainians coming last year. They're allowed work I think,so all good.

Emblematic · 13-10-2025 09:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123902677#Comment_123902677

But wasn't your point that net-inward migration is overwhelmingly EU and UK based?

kneemos · 13-10-2025 09:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903197#Comment_123903197

No. Never mentioned net inward migration.

rogber · 14-10-2025 08:31AM

Page 15 and unsurprisingly nothing to do with the original question anymore, just another debate about immigration

Stephen_Maturin · 14-10-2025 10:40AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903709#Comment_123903709

Care to share your thoughts on the topic?

rogber · 15-10-2025 09:36AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123904021#Comment_123904021

Affordable housing is a big problem, yes. But too many young people think having an iPhone and multiple streaming services and regular city breaks and 5 pints and dinner out at the weekend are essential costs of living. They are not. If people really want to save, it's usually possible.

Stephen_Maturin · 15-10-2025 09:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123906809#Comment_123906809

Ah yes it’s all that avocado toast the young people are frittering away their money on that has led to the worst housing crisis in the history of the state

They just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and knuckle down eh?

Risibly out of touch comment

Geuze · 15-10-2025 09:54AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123906809#Comment_123906809

House prices relative to incomes are way ahead of where they were in the past.

It is genuinely much harder to buy a house now.

15-10-2025 10:01AM

To be fair housing affordability has been a disaster for many years. We can give out about young people all we want, it's a privilege of age, but the reality is housing is not affordable. Even in the early 90s it was possible if challenging for an unskilled worker to have a spouse and a few children at home and still pay a mortgage. That's not an option now, it's actually very hard for two people with decent jobs to buy a house in any of the Irish cities. It's even hard to rent one.

It's unfortunate but an awful lot of this is down to immigration. The population has exploded. And it's still going up. Obviously every society needs some immigration, but this century in Ireland the level has been far too high. It did decrease last year but it is still way too high.

The leaders of our centrist parties need to be honest about this or they'll find themselves irrelevant. I suspect that it's hard for them to acknowledge the scale of the miscalculation and the impact it has had. Maybe ye noticed Jack Chambers talking in an only slightly indirect way about the far right in his statement on the budget. It was a bizarre time to be talking about the issue and hinted at an insecurity in government IMO.

"We must challenge the voices who try to use diversity to divide us. Instead, we will continue to celebrate the differences that elevate our cultural identity and our national heritage." I think even the most dyed in the wool FFer would have to acknowledge how strange that comment is in a statement introducing a budget.

On an aside, in the west of Ireland at least, the State is building a huge amount of houses, that are going to people on social welfare. It's another inconvenient fact. Houses are not getting built for working people, they're being built at a very disproportinate rate for welfare recipients. It suits builders, they get paid, but they'll all tell you that it's not the right thing for the State to be doing.

The Irish working and middle classes are being shafted in a big way. It better stop or we'll have a populist Government sooner or later. What's going on now is madness, everyone is being prioritised except the people who pay for everything.

Of course it’s possible I’m wrong about everything and am just a grumpy old man! But I do think it’s particularly hard for young people now, because of many years of bad decisions and Governments opting out of difficult conversations around immigration, which unfortunately is a massive economic and social issue.

straight · 15-10-2025 03:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123906809#Comment_123906809

Careful there now with the truth. It sometimes hurts....

Stephen_Maturin · 15-10-2025 03:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123907744#Comment_123907744

”the truth”

House prices are at their highest ever levels because young people have iPhones. Very sound economics there.

It’s never been more difficult or expensive to purchase property in this country. You are merely out of touch choosing to believe self serving rubbish like the above.

The fact is that was simply much easier to purchase a house in your day - not because you are more clever or hard working or special than any of the young people that are struggling to purchase today.

That’s the truth (sorry if it hurts)

straight · 15-10-2025 03:39PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123907795#Comment_123907795

That's Not the truth but it can be "your truth" if it helps you. Good luck with it.

Stephen_Maturin · 15-10-2025 03:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123907835#Comment_123907835

It quite literally is the truth, are you disputing that house prices are not higher relative to real income than they were years ago?

If you want to live in your own LaLa land that’s fine but you don’t get to call it the truth

runawaybishop · 15-10-2025 03:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123906893#Comment_123906893

Immigration wouldn't be an issue if we were building though and halting it isn't going to build more houses. We built 250k properties in 3 years during the boom with 240k workers - many of them polish immigrants!. During the recession we built the total sum of **** all (90% drop) and also made sure every young fella who was thinking about a trade was warned away and told to head off to Australia because the government would not be looking after them.

https://www.centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/publications/quarterly-bulletins/quarterly-bulletin-signed-articles/where-are-ireland-s-construction-workers-%28conefrey-and-mcindoe-calder%29.pdf

"Almost one in every two workers who lost their jobs in Ireland in the five years from 2007 to 2012 had previously been employed in construction"

"our results point to a high rate of outward migration among unemployed construction workers during the 2008-2012 period"

Now we are reaping what was sown. We have less people in construction (140-170k depending on who you ask) and building regs have increased significantly, as well as costs obviously, and we are way behind where we need to be.

We need to 1) convert some of the existing workforce into the construction sector, 2) encourage young people to take up a trade and 3) allow sufficient targeted immigration to bulk up the construction workforce.

Given that we spent a decade warning people off the sector we need to strongly incentive people via increased apprentice conditions and/or and we also need to look at the cost factors, planning delays (which are crazy), external investment etc

straight · 15-10-2025 04:25PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123907843#Comment_123907843

Yes, relatively speaking house prices were higher in 2006. It's very easy for you to check that out online if you like. Check out "The other hand" podcast if you like. They did an episode on it.

Emblematic · 15-10-2025 04:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123903218#Comment_123903218

However, did you not say earlier:

"Leave the EU and cancel the free travel agreement with the UK which is our single biggest immigrant nation."

Your implication being that since the EU and UK make up the bulk of inward migration, in order to make a dent in it, you would have to leave EU and common travel area.

Stephen_Maturin · 15-10-2025 04:55PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123907956#Comment_123907956

Nope they’re higher now both in relative and absolute terms

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41707217.html

“The statistics show that house prices are now 20.9% higher than their Celtic Tiger peak in April 2007 and are almost 170% higher than the low they reached in early 2013.”

And do you think the insanely easy access to credit back then made it more difficult or less difficult to purchase a house?

straight · 15-10-2025 05:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123908070#Comment_123908070

It Was always difficult to buy a house. My parents built their house for 6k. That doesn't mean it was easy. As I said, you can believe whatever you like and keep throwing out BS. I don't see how it's going to help your cause but sure, what would I know.

straight · 15-10-2025 05:06PM

There you go. I think thats the pod. You can contact the boys about it if you disagree.

https://www.podbean.com/ea/dir-5sr47-261d3974

Bass Reeves · 15-10-2025 05:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123907843#Comment_123907843

I am with @rogber and @straighto this. I would not dispute house prices are higher. However expectations form part of this. Expectations to live away from home during and straight after college. There was alway a cohort that had to but now people make thos choice even thoug work may be near enough to commute to. It becoming obligatory to travel for a while as well. Some manage to bring a wad home some manage to spend it all

Then there is expectations to have a lifestyle which swallow a significant amount of money. Whether that is subcriptions to Netflix, Disney, Spotify etc, catching up with people, holidays and weekend breaks, weddings ( now a two day affair, and a stag/hen event as well). I know of hotels now that will not accept a wedding unless they get day two as well. It's now nearly obligatory to attend the two days, how long before there is a pre wedding event the night before as well. Add in the take away coffee, the iPhone, the game console, the catchup lunches or dinners, etc.

In the end it life catches up with people those who carry on aimlessly. My son is moving into his new house/home within a couple weeks, a self build admittedly he got the site off us. It cost 300k, 22k HTB, savings of 65k and 212k mortgage. To get the mortgage he had to save like f@@k for 7-8 months wages were sub 55k. Now you can.look at it and say he could not domit without the site. It's correct to an extend he could not have afforded to build THAT house without the site but he could have afforded a house.

Similarly with my daughter I have started her house she again had a bit of savings, saved hard will get the HTB. She is a teacher. She got a 4.5 times earnings which worked out at 248k. House will cost 350k to build. Again she could have afforded to buy a house anyway. Neither got help other than the site. Both saved of there own accord. One is 31 and the other 29.

However unlike us there expectations are to move into a house with a kitchen, all appliances, all floor covering ( tiles and wood flooring) bathrooms completed. In there defence all fittings and furnishings are not expensive brands.

So I cannot accept that a couple on 40-50k each( or maybe even lower) cannot afford a house. If they cannot its lifestyle choices they make

Stephen_Maturin · 15-10-2025 05:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123908092#Comment_123908092

I’m sure it wasn’t easy but it was easier than it is now

Do you think the really easy access to loads of credit before the crash made it more difficult to buy a house?

kneemos · 15-10-2025 05:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123907849#Comment_123907849

The issue with having loads of apprenticeships is construction is cyclical. Like after the Celtic Tiger when all the Polish builders left if we had an army of our own working in construction in ten years or whatever they'll be out of work.

i believe there's a bit of a housing boom in Poland ATM and housing shortages in many European countries,so any migrant workers can pick and choose.

Not sure you'll get hoards of kids wanting to take up an apprenticeship,the choice is there already if they wanted to.

timmyntc · 15-10-2025 05:32PM

Old men ranting that the facts are wrong and its the young people at fault, anything to absolve themselves of blame for the sh*t situation people now find themselves in.