The predominant take in the media has long been that the government's priority is to increase supply of housing but that, almost uniquely among all governments in the developed world, it is too incompetent to do so. This interpretation doesn't make sense to me.
Almost all of what has been happening over the past ten years makes sense if one presumes that the government's foremost priority is not to increase supply but instead to keep house prices high.
That's what the battalion of vested interests that has captured housing policy (banks, developers, estate agents, landlords, investment funds, etc) is pushing for.
It explains why even when public pressure is making the government act against those groups it does so half-heartedly:
hence regulations on Airbnb landlords that were seemingly designed to be unenforceable;
hence no effective measures to tackle rampant dereliction;
hence the continued construction of low density semi-detached houses in Dublin's inner suburbs where hundreds of medium-rise apartment blocks would be needed to make a meaningful impact on supply;
hence the lack of enforcement of rent caps in rent pressure zones;
hence the lack of measures to protect apartments from bulk-buying by investment funds;
hence the bizarre shared equity scheme which developers sold to ministers as a way of increasing supply without affecting prices;
hence no tax penalties on vacant properties, etc etc.
The government should at least be upfront about its real priority (extremely high house prices at all cost), thereby enabling a public debate as to whether it is worth sacrificing a generation.
Almost all of what has been happening over the past ten years makes sense if one presumes that the government's foremost priority is not to increase supply but instead to keep house prices high.
That's what the battalion of vested interests that has captured housing policy (banks, developers, estate agents, landlords, investment funds, etc) is pushing for.
It explains why even when public pressure is making the government act against those groups it does so half-heartedly:
hence regulations on Airbnb landlords that were seemingly designed to be unenforceable;
hence no effective measures to tackle rampant dereliction;
hence the continued construction of low density semi-detached houses in Dublin's inner suburbs where hundreds of medium-rise apartment blocks would be needed to make a meaningful impact on supply;
hence the lack of enforcement of rent caps in rent pressure zones;
hence the lack of measures to protect apartments from bulk-buying by investment funds;
hence the bizarre shared equity scheme which developers sold to ministers as a way of increasing supply without affecting prices;
hence no tax penalties on vacant properties, etc etc.
The government should at least be upfront about its real priority (extremely high house prices at all cost), thereby enabling a public debate as to whether it is worth sacrificing a generation.
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