Increase in mortgage approvals despite restrictions; Government with a new bill to resolve housing crisis in Ireland
DUBLIN: The latest figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) of Ireland show a 2.8% increase in the number of mortgage approvals in January.
A total of 3,355 mortgages valued at €823 million were approved last month.
First-time buyers account for almost half of the mortgages. They accounted for 1,709 (50.9%) of the total transactions. 911 mortgages (27.2%) mortgages were taken for second homes.
First buyers accounted for €409 million (49.7%) and mover-purchasers for €271 million (32.9%).
BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes said the mortgage operation performed well last month despite level 5 restrictions. He said it was comforting and encouraging that financial institutions were still supporting consumers.
There are not enough houses available in the market for hundreds of mortgagees in the country. Most of the new mortgagees are in a situation where they can only move home months later due to delays in completing construction projects.
Housing Minister Darag O’Brien with LDA Bill to resolve housing crisis
Ireland’s housing problems are as old as the country’s history. Every Government and Housing Ministers are bringing in new measures, legal reforms and measures in the name of resolving the crisis. Yet Ireland’s housing crisis remains unchanged…
The former Minister for Housing had made various announcements aimed at resolving the crisis. The current Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien, is also pushing for an LDA bill that seeks to address the housing crisis. The minister described his new bill as a sensible solution to the housing problem.
In the cities and villages of Ireland there are many empty sites or buildings lying unused. The new bill states that they are mostly owned by the local council or other government departments.
It is disappointing that government-owned land is lying idle when there are thousands of people who find it difficult to buy a home of their own or rent a good place.
To address this issue, the Minister said, such lands would be acquired and utilized by the Land Development Agency, which has been set up to make better use of social housing and affordable housing.
The minister said the LDA would take up such sites for the homeless to buy, rent and create jobs at affordable rates.
The bill makes necessary changes to ensure that the government has the new CPO (Compulsory Purchase Order) powers to purchase such vacant land. Freedom of Information and Oireachtas accountability will be ensured. None of these provisions were included in the previous version of the Bill. The minister asserted that the bill was not imaginary but an imaginative intervention to resolve the housing crisis.
The minister hopes that by acquiring more such sites and making them available to the needy, the housing crisis will be alleviated even in urban areas.
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