In a report published recently by The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) they warned that 95% of the apartments built in Ireland in 2019 were purchased by global residential home investors for buy to let.
This practice pushes house prices up for Irish home buyers, especially first time buyers as it limits the housing stock that changes hands.
The CIF report also highlighted that just 4 new homes in every 10 newly built homes in 2019 were ever offered for sale on the open market.
Speaking in the Dail last month, the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he doesn’t believe an outright ban (on global residential funds) is the best way forward reported Newstalk.
“The solution is not to try and ban types of housing of ban types of housing investment,” Varadkar said.
“While it might be the case that there are too many of these investment funds and they are too active in the market in Dublin, it doesn’t mean there is no place for them at all Varadkar said.
In 2007, Germany banned residential Real Estate Investment Trusts from buying up homes or apartments altogether.
Just days after Varadkar rejected calls to ban international residential home investment funds, the Sunday Business Post reports that a global property investment firm has bought most of a 170 residential home estate in Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Round Hill Capital will put their 135 houses onto the rental market.
The Maynooth developers had been selling new homes to private buyers since last year but sold only 35. The purchase by the global residential investment fund has effectively removed these homes from private Irish home buyers and means that private Irish home buyers must now compete with international residential home investors.
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