Cllr Owen Hanley remains concerned that rising house prices are devastating for workers in Galway.
Reacting to new figures from the CSO, Hanley has labelled the property market as ‘dysfunctional’ in Ireland.
“House prices in October increased by 13.5 per cent – the highest rate of increase in six years,” Hanley says. “This is a further increase on the 12.5 per cent spike we saw the previous month. In the west of Ireland there was an annual price increase of 13.4 per cent. These figures are further evidence that house prices are spiralling out of the reach of ordinary workers.
“The housing crisis is a having a damaging impact on every generation. It reduces your ability to plan for a family or retirement. We have young people in their 20’s and 30’s unable to move out of unaffordable rents or move from the family home. The long-term effects on the inability to buy your own home is not being taken seriously enough.
“Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien repeatedly states that he wants to restore affordability to the housing market. Where is the evidence of that? The housing market is red hot – and the minister’s policy proposal to address this inferno is to pour more fuel onto the fire.
“The CSO figures show our dysfunctional property market is getting worse, not better. Ordinary workers can no longer aspire to own their own home. Many, cannot even afford to rent given the astronomical prices being quoted.”
Hanley also adds that renters are not being properly catered for also and is calling on a ban on increases.
“Rents rose by 8.3 per cent in the third quarter of the year – the highest rate of rental increase since 2017. In Galway city, average rents grew by 9.7 per cent from last year to almost €1,500 per month while in the county average rents are now over €1,000 per months. Average rent now exceeds €1,000 per month in 12 counties.
“The Housing Minister has been promising to address exorbitant rental increases since he came into office, but his approach has not worked. The proof of this abject failure is evident in the figures from the RTB.
“Renters in Galway cannot afford this persistent failure. This level of rental increase is crippling ordinary workers. It is plunging people into poverty and seriously impacting people’s ability to live a life of dignity. The cost of living in Galway is simply too expensive and there seems to be no recognition of the damage this is having.
“Instead of tinkering around the edges – by linking rents to sky-high inflation or imposing rent caps that don’t work – the Housing Minister must ban rental increases.
“This must be tied to genuine enforcement on dereliction, illegal short term letting, and security of tenure for renters. This is the only way to stop the inexorable increases in rents until more supply including cost rental apartments are delivered.”
