Madam, - Five years ago you published a letter from me about house prices in which I said that "rising interest rates could move many recent and future buyers with large mortgages into negative equity and expose their lenders to defaulting loans. It could also mean that many houses acquired as investments might be offered for sale to lock in gains or to cut losses. This would further depress prices. Can nothing be done to prevent this calamitous event from happening?"
Clearly, very little was done. If a mere letter-writer could foresee this crisis, why didn't the Government? The best thing the Government can do now to assist the beleaguered building industry is absolutely nothing! House prices should be allowed to continue their rapid descent to a point where people and lenders become confident that they have finally reached a reasonable and sustainable level. There should be no "dig-outs" or artificial schemes.
The return of affordable housing for all would be a real shot in the arm for society and the economy. To consolidate this, the Government must introduce the much-discussed controls on the price of building land and, in conjunction with the Central Bank, take measures to curtail inflationary lending for house purchases. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN FLANAGAN,
Ardmeen Park,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.