Bacik warns of housing market overheating

Labour leader and housing spokesperson Ivana Bacik has criticised Government’s “lacklustre” response to tackling affordability in the housing market.

A recent Real Esatate Alliance report showed that the average price of a three-bed semi-detached house nationally has breached €300,000 for the first time since 2007, and Bacik has accused Fianna Fáil of “allowing house prices to spiral out of control once again.”

Bacik said that the housing market is “totally overheated” and said that the report highlights a “chronic shortage of supply and the urgent need for greater speed of delivery of new homes.”

“First-time buyers and younger people are being particularly impacted, with many having to look outside cities, away from their places of work, in order to have any hope of purchasing a home,” she said.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been here before with Fianna Fáil, a party that appears utterly incapable of producing an adequate supply of affordable homes.”

“With supply at an all-time low, the State needs pick up the slack from where private developers have failed – there are simply not enough homes being built,” she added.

Bacik faced off against Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien in the Dáil last week, and said she would refuse to take lessons on anything from Fianna Fáil following the 2008 economic crash.

Bacik suggested that Housing For All should be renamed “Housing for Some,” claiming that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have “consistently prioritised the interests of big landlords and investment funds over those of renters and families at risk of homelessness.”

O’Brien hit back at Bacik’s criticisms, saying that the issue was “question of catching up because of years of under-delivery, five of which were under the Labour Party.”

Discussing the Dáil showdown, Bacik said “he suggested to me in response that house prices were not rising. This is clearly incorrect, as today’s report shows.”

“To add insult to injury, we know that there are thousands of vacant sites and derelict properties in every community around the country which could be utilised and repurposed much more effectively to bring more housing stock into supply.

“How many reports and warnings does this Government need before it takes the necessary urgent steps to address our chronic housing crisis?”