New housing crisis looms

DUBLIN is facing a new housing crisis with weak supplies of property in all sectors predicted for 2014.

Housing charity Threshold say housing needs assessment figures released by the Government a week before Christmas highlight an immediate need for more social housing.

And leading property website, Myhome.ie, last week warned that the weak supply of new housing stock in Dublin would be one of the main challenges facing the property market over the coming year.

A report by Myhome.ie on the final quarter of 2013 found that the annual mix adjusted average asking price in Dublin is up 2.4 per cent – the largest annual increase in seven years – and experts say further price increases are likely this year.

Figures for Northside areas suggest the market has finally bottomed out on this side of the city. Dublin North City, where prices fell by 68 per cent from the boom, show an increase of eight per cent in 2013. The median asking price currently stands at

?¬135,000 according the Myhome.ie.

In Dublin North prices rose by 4.4 per cent in 2013, despite a fall of 1.7 per cent in the final quarter. Myhome.ie say the median asking price for the area now stands at

?¬235,000.

Dublin West figures grew in the first two quarters of 2013 but increased by just one per cent overall in 2013 after a decline in the third quarter.

Myhome.ie’s median asking price for the area is currently

?¬180,000.

Caroline Kelleher from DKM Economic Consultants says the Dublin property market turned a corner in 2013, with prices first stabilising and then rising from Q2 2013 onwards.

“The market turned in Q2 when the year-on-year change in mix adjusted asking prices in Dublin entered positive territory for the first time in six years,

? she said.

“Price increases in the capital, due in large part to a shortage of supply, has meant the divergence between Dublin and the rest of the country is growing and looks set to widen further in 2014.

?

Managing Director of MyHome.ie, Angela Keegan, says there are currently just 3,000 properties on sale in Dublin, 30 per cent less that this time last year.

“We are also seeing very low volumes of house building and planning permission being granted for apartments, when there is a clear demand for family homes,

? she said.

“The price increases we are seeing in Dublin are unsustainable over the medium term.

?

Meanwhile, the Government’s latest housing needs assessment figures show just over 22,000 households qualify for social housing support in Dublin City Council and Fingal Council areas combined.

Threshold say the vast majority of people on waiting lists for local authority houses are currently living in private rented accommodation.

“In effect, the Government has allowed the private rented sector to replace local authorities as a source of housing for people on low incomes,

? said Bob Jordan, Chief Executive of Threshold.

“Rising rents, more competition from cash-paying tenants, reduced welfare payments and disaffection amongst landlords with how the rent supplement scheme is administered means that the private rented sector is not an adequate safety net for many people who cannot get local authority homes.

?

According to Threshold, rents are rising at an

“alarming rate

? in the Greater Dublin Area, where there is an acute shortage of rental properties and low-income families are being priced out of the market due to rising demand.

Rents for homes in Dublin have increased by an average of 7.5 per cent in the past year and the stock of available properties is falling all the time, the charity said.

The topic is set to become an issue during this year’s local election campaigns and Sinn Fein candidate in Dublin 15, Paul Donnelly, says it’s a

“ticking timebomb.

?

“We are constantly getting desperate families coming in to us pleading for help after the rent was increased by their landlords,

? he said.

“I received a call recently from a desperate mother whose rent has gone from e940 to e1,050. She has been given an ultimatum, pay up or move out.

“This will become the norm as the weeks and months go by because housing is getting scarcer and there is no plan or strategy by the Government to tackle this ticking timebomb.

?

Dublin North West TD, Dessie Ellis (SF), described the housing needs assessment figures as

“clear evidence the Government has failed to properly tackle the long running housing crisis

?.

“Anyone involved in housing or familiar with the crisis could not be shocked by these figures but they are an utter condemnation of Government policy,

? he said.

“Over one billion euro has been cut from housing since 2008 as well as cuts to basic social welfare payments and rent supplement.

“These cuts have led to local authorities being unable to provide homes, repair vacant homes or even to properly maintain currently occupied housing.

“People who are housed right now are living in worse and worse conditions, with damp walls and unreliable plumbing and heating.

“Waiting times for housing have never been longer in recent memory. One in five applicants wait five years to be housed, one in ten wait at least seven. I have a number of people in my area waiting in excess of ten years.

“The solution is real investment in social housing.

?