Kilkenny Labour TD Ann Phelan has welcomed the recent recommendations by the CSO and prominent economists of the need for a national housing price database.
The Labour Party TD said that the subject of debt forgiveness on plummeting house values may be a valid consideration in revitalising the economy but she added that we have been led up the garden path of simplistic property solutions in the past.
“It seems that the only way we will get a true picture of the state of the property market, is if we have a national database. It may also deal with situations where conflicting information about property prices may be because of market valuation manipulation by vested interests.”
A national house price database would: Provide certainty in market for homeowners; Build confidence among potential buyers; Provide qualified information to lenders as to how property values are moving and changing.
She added that the Programme for Government contains a commitment to create such a home value database. However, she also said that this was not designed to throw scarce resources at the wealthy but as a mechanism to stabilise real debt values as an aid to family homeowners in distress.
“It may well be the case that information gathered together for the database could be used more fairly when evaluating property prices relating to the property tax that is set to be introduced in the future years,” she concluded.
