Mortgages are finally moving with the timesRecent advances in fintech have meant that mortgage approval has gone from hours to seconds while also becoming more cost competitive
New brokers’ rules will only penalise potential clientsA hospitality ban is good, but removing the ability to call yourself ‘independent’ if you only charge via fee misses the point
The Central Bank can’t claim the creditHouse price inflation has slowed over the last year - and the reason might be as simple as supply and demand
Back to the future as it’s 2006 all over againWith rent and skilled labour costs on the up, the housing bubble still refuses to burst. But for how much longer?
Planning system is root of housing problems – reform it nowExtended delays caused by third-party objections are ramping up building costs and causing housing supply shortages
The first rule of Baby Boomer Club: don’t talk about itYoung people can’t afford to buy homes because the wealth is being held by the older generation – and we’re all okay with it
State needs to be less greedy on constructionAbout 40 per cent of the cost of a new home goes towards government costs and taxes. This needs to change
Tell you what I want (and why we won’t get it)We have strongly held views about housing - but we won’t pull the trigger. So nothing gets done
Some incompatible objectives are holding us backEven with the supposedly perfect housing solution, as seen in Vienna, we’d still have 6,500 homeless people in Dublin
Helping those who can already help themselvesIf you’re able to provide for yourself, then the state shouldn’t intercede to provide you with personal or corporate welfare
Time to do the Viennese waltz on social housingA new presentation makes clear that the Austrian housing model is something we in Ireland could learn from
What you hear, as opposed to what you’re toldThere is a disconnect in the planning process that means designing in response to what people are saying they want and need will frequently get you a firm ‘No’
Down to the woods to go up in the worldLet’s stop talking about ‘high-rise’ buildings and call them ‘mid-rise’ instead. And while we’re at it, throw some wood on the pile
Why we need to raise the property taxUsing property tax to fund social and affordable housing is not a radical idea: it is done elsewhere as a matter of course
Where have all the towers gone?Every time conservation-ists moan about the loss of a little bit of skyline, we should celebrate new buildings housing more people
Benefiting the wealthy, forsaking the needyOur farcical social housing system is undercharging those who can afford private sector rent, while denying those who cannot
Hap flaw will only exacerbate the crisisSenseless policy error effectively forces landlords to evict non-paying social housing tenants
Killing the cure won’t help anybodyLet’s intervene with assistance for those that need it, rather than a blanket move that does more damage to innocent parties
Yes, Hap is social housingHarking back to the construction figures of the 1950s, an awful decade, is irrelevant
‘Lower property tax’ might sound good, but ‘local services that work’ need to be paid forIn Ireland, we want ‘all in together’ on the receiving of beneficial outcomes, but ‘tax somebody else’ when it comes to supporting the cost of this
