EBS Building Society

Four years of rapid house price increases mean that thousands of young people have been priced out of the market, says Mr Martin Walsh, head of lending at the Educational Building Society (EBS).

"With modest starter houses priced close to £80,000, professional rather than industrial earnings are required. . . The Celtic Tiger will soon have many disenchanted cubs," he says.

Mr Walsh recommends a series of Government initiatives to increase housing supply and reduce market distortions.

He suggests that the 1973 report of the Committee on the Price of Building Land, the Kenny Report, be revisited and a new system of rezoning, including the use of compulsory purchase orders, be introduced.

Planning densities in inner-city areas in particular should be reviewed as should all tax breaks. "They should have a limited scope and lifespan," he says.

Tax subsidies should be the same for everyone, whether they are buying or renting, and stamp duty, at a far lower rate, should be the same for both old and new houses of all sizes.

First-time buyers should be assisted directly by way of tax relief or direct income subsidy instead of grants, he says.

Director Of Consumer Affairs

The Director of Consumer Affairs, Mr William Fagan, is seriously concerned at the low availability of starter homes.

"What's driving up prices is that demand is outstripping supply. The question needs to be addressed at the supply end," he says.

The Government needs to look at how there can be more encouragement for the development of starter homes. It should examine how it can structure aids and incentives so builders will supply to those setting up home - subject to a cap on price but without introducing price controls.

Mr Fagan says the Government also needs to ensure that incentives, such as the first-time buyers' grant, help those for whom they were intended and are not simply assumed into the pricing chain.

"There is a need to design incentives in such a fashion that the person who should benefit does benefit and it's not going into the pocket of someone else," he says.

Home Builders' Association

Michael Goggins, director of the Irish Home Builders' Association (IHBA), says there is a need for suitably zoned and serviced land to meet demand in the housing market.

The IHBA believes the need for servicing is greater than zoning at present.

"There are very many areas of the country with large tracts of land already zoned, but they can't be developed because the infrastructure isn't there," he says.

It's time for an attitude change to dens ity in metropolitan areas to stop Dublin sprawling outward, he says. "With creative design there is plenty of scope for increasing density."

The IHBA says Ireland's expensive and "very cumbersome" planning system needs to be reviewed.

"If it could be streamlined, improved and accelerated, it would go a long way to easing the supply side," he says.

ESRI

The current property boom may contain the seeds of its own reversal, says Mr Terry Baker, senior economist at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

The ESRI expects 38,000 new dwellings to be built this year with a further 41,000 due for completion next year.

"It's hard to see how demand can continue at that sort of level just looking at the normal demographics and household formation," he says.

He is opposed to the Government dealing with a short- to medium-term problem through the introduction of measures with long-term effects.

Mr Baker believes the market may be selfrighting in the end, but says the question is how long it will take and whether it can be hurried in any way.

He has suggested that the Government could consider imposing some sort of tax on new consumer lending, including mortgages, which would have the effect of raising interest rates for that particular type of purchase.

In the longer term, the Government may need to address the shortage of serviced land, he maintains.

Irish Permanent

John Cunningham, deputy head of marketing at Irish Permanent, advocates a full review of the whole planning permission process, keeping in mind the importance of preserving green belt areas.

The development of infrastructure - and not just roads, sewage and water systems - is also very important, according to the state's largest home loan provider.

Facilities such as shops and schools must be provided and the Government has a huge role to play in partnership with developers and the industry as a whole in their development, he says.

He says it is important for the Government to continue its policy of the regionalisation of business development to avoid a situation where demand is concentrated in certain geographic areas.

SIPTU

Des Geraghty, SIPTU vice-president, says house inflation is out of all proportion to inflation in the rest of the economy.

He believes the price of land is a key issue for the housing market and that the Government should consider a constitutional amendment which would allow it put controls on the price of building land.

In the absence of that, it could introduce prohibitive taxes to discourage profiteering.

"The building land issue needs to be tackled especially in a city like Dublin where the population is growing and spreading out," he says.

He believes there should also be a more proactive approach to housing development with local authorities assessing future housing needs and then acquiring adequate building land.

Mr Geraghty says that local authorities, in partnership with the private sector, should encourage builders to develop medium-priced dwellings which are within the range of those earning an average industrial wage.

Sherry Fitzgerald

Like many estate agents, Ms Marian Finnegan, economist with Sherry Fitzgerald, would like the Government to address the issue of supply.

"The problem with supply at the moment is the lack of zoned land," she says.

"There are only 3,200 acres of land zoned for residential purposes in Dublin and that would suggest a three to five-year supply, but not all of this land is serviced or accessible."

There should be a strategic plan for Dublin and its development and she suggests shared ownership as an option for hard-pressed first-time buyers.

This would involve the Government or a financing body providing a proportion of the mortgage and part-owning the property purchased.

"It would provide a stepping stone - one way people could get into the market," she says.

She also suggests that first-time buyers look at a repayment term of 30 years which would allow them to afford a bigger mortgage.

Economist

Bad information leads to bad policies, says Brendan Walshe, Professor of Economics at University College Dublin (UCD).

Prof Walshe says a good measure of the trend in house prices is lacking and suggests the data collected with stamp duty could be systematised to provide better information.

He believes Government policy should not exacerbate what is already happening in the housing market and that distortions in the form of tax breaks and subsidies should be removed from the system.

"Now would be a good time to review distortions as they fuel demand for housingwithout a commensurate increase in supply," he says.

He calls for a dramatic change in the whole attitude to planning where land has been given an artificial scarcity by planning laws.

"We have created an artificial scarcity of land through the zoning procedures which have not achieved much but a temptation to corruption," he maintains.

IAVI

The Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI) also believes that a shortage of zoned and serviced land is one of the biggest problems facing the housing industry.

But its president, Mr Paul McDowell, says taxation policy has also contributed to a shortage of supply.

"The ill-conceived measure of increasing stamp duty on residential property over £150,000 was a clumsy attempt to dampen the market and actually reduced the supply even further by reducing property mobility due to high transaction costs," he says.

The Government should refrain from introducing any Budget changes which could impact on house prices - either way - in advance of the completion of the independent study of the issue commissioned by the Department of the Environment, the IAVI believes.

The Government needs to revisit the licensing requirements for auctioneers, says Mr McDowell. The sophisticated nature of modern property practice demands that practitioners, who purport to advise the public, should at a minimum be acquainted with valuation, property law, planning and construction, he says.