Downsizing - Incentives. Any updates?

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SDMXTWO

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I remembered a 'downsizing incentive' some months ago:

The Fianna Fáil leader revealed his top civil servant Martin Fraser is chairing a new interdepartmental group set up within the last month “with everything on the table” to drive housing delivery. The Irish Independent understands that ministers are discussing possible tax incentives for people who want to rightsize, as well as discussions around a specific grant.

Has anyone got more info on the status of this idea? I live in a large house and am open to downsizing and building a small house in my large garden. Any ideas welcome.
 
SDMXTWO said:
I remembered a 'downsizing incentive' some months ago:

The Fianna Fáil leader revealed his top civil servant Martin Fraser is chairing a new interdepartmental group set up within the last month “with everything on the table” to drive housing delivery. The Irish Independent understands that ministers are discussing possible tax incentives for people who want to rightsize, as well as discussions around a specific grant.

Has anyone got more info on the status of this idea? I live in a large house and am open to downsizing and building a small house in my large garden. Any ideas welcome.
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Would probably be announced in the Budget if anything were to happen this year - so October.
 
www.irishtimes.com

Vacant property tax likely under Housing For All proposals

House crisis plans include downsizing stamp duty discount and Fair Deal rent break
www.irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com

0.5% stamp duty incentive. A tokenistic statement of intent rather than an effective housing measure. I mean they probably could have done better by having a token reduction in property tax for 5 years, say. It would at least change peoples mindset to look to the medium term and beyond rather than as a short term, one off.

Just more pocket money for the over-housed, to pad their tax free gains, to compete with FTB's for smaller properties! (semi-trolling :) )
 
No CGT on sale of your primary residence so nothing they can do there.

Stamp Duty usually 1% on sale up to 1m, 2% on balance over 1m.

So sell your house for 500K
-Normal Stamp Duty 1%= 5K
-New Stamp Duty 0.5%= 2.5K
-Save 2.5K - that's not exactly going to push people to downsize!

Plus you still need to find somewhere new, ideally a bungalow so have ground floor bedroom.
Essentially, for most retirees, you are talking downsizing to a 3 bed and putting you in direct competition with first time buyers.
 
How about exempting you from property tax for the duration of your life. That might work
 
TheJackal said:
How about exempting you from property tax for the duration of your life. That might work
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I spent the last two weeks looking at apartments near me. We would be moving from a 5 bed and thought that a 3 bed apartment might suit. I looked at new builds and second hand. South Dublin.
The apartments were circa €900k for a new build and €750k for a second hand. My own house needs work but looking at the second hand apartments they were just as bad. They would all need new kitchens, bathrooms etc. BER ratings not great.
I would have to pay property tax and management fee. Management fee was about €2500.
Some of the second hand apartments looked as if they had older owners. Very quiet. I would be looking out the window at......very little.

I could spend a few Euro on my own place and still have a bit of a view from my window, a garden and put up with the problems that I know about. I would still have lots of space. I can park outside my front door and collect my post from my hall letterbox.

It is still a toss of a coin for us but I would need an apartment with everything on my doorstep, however €900k would mean that I would need to sell my own home first as I could not get any bridging facilities at my age.
 
SlugBreath said:
however €900k would mean that I would need to sell my own home first as I could not get any br
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This is probably the most critical point to be addressed if we want to encourage downsizing. The availability of bridging finance, or making 'property chains' normal as they are in the UK. Without it, talking about downsizing for most pensioners is just theoretical.
 
RedOnion said:
he availability of bridging finance, or making 'property chains' normal as they are in the UK.
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Why don't Irish banks offer bridging finance any more to your knowledge?

I presume it would be profitable at some level. Even a €5,000 fee charged by a bank is better than having to move and store furniture for a few months.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
Why don't Irish banks offer bridging finance any more to your knowledge?
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I'm not sure if there's a specific reason to be honest. Amongst other things I'd say the market is just too small.

It was never a core offering, but it was a way of winning other business from the customer, e.g a bigger mortgage.
In a perfect world, bridging should be repaid in 3 to 4 months, so barely long enough to cover your underwriting costs and capital.
It's no longer offered by any high Street banks in the UK either.
 
Thanks, you're always well informed.

RedOnion said:
In a perfect world, bridging should be repaid in 3 to 4 months, so barely long enough to cover your underwriting costs and capital.
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I would have thought there's a niche for a product with a high upfront fee to cover the underwriting.

But I guess even a very small default rate would soak up a lot of capital.
 
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