Planning rules aimed at preventing investors bulk-buying multiple houses have led to more than 1,000 homes being ring-fenced for owner-occupiers across Galway.
This is the claim from Fianna Fáil TD Anne Rabbitte who says rules introduced by her party colleague, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, in 2021, have led to almost 50,000 own-door homes going to private buyers nationwide.
In Galway City and County local authority areas, 1,087 homes have received planning permission with conditions restricting the bulk buying or multiple sales to a single purchaser in the three-year period from May 2021 to May 2024.
The Section 28 measures introduced by Minister O’Brien in 2021 included a 10 per cent stamp duty levy on the cumulative purchase of 10 or more residential properties, excluding apartments, within a year. This was aimed at deterring institutional investors from bulk purchasing homes.
"Fianna Fáil in Government is committed to supporting home ownership and first-time buyers,” says Galway East’s Deputy Rabbitte. “This latest data demonstrates that our measures designed to prohibit the bulk buying of houses and duplexes in order to increase housing stock for home ownership are working. As well as restricting bulk buying, we are also boosting supply through our plan, Housing for All, with recent data for new home commencements at record levels.”
Rabbitte is minister of state at the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Disability ).
She added that the government’s development levy waiver and Irish Water connection charge rebate shows that it is using “every lever at our disposal” to tackle the housing crisis.
“Fianna Fáil’s top priority remains doing everything we can to help people to afford to buy or rent a home. My focus is on doing whatever I can to keep this positive momentum going.”
