The Greens will demand measures to cap the price of development lands as a non-negotiable condition for their entry into a coalition, the party's environment spokesman said yesterday.
Mr Ciarán Cuffe TD said that the boom in property prices meant that "an entire generation" was unable to afford the price of a home. He was speaking at the publication of a new housing policy, which includes a pledge to introduce a "site value" tax on all undeveloped zoned land. The policy includes a promise to "significantly reduce" stamp duty.
Mr Cuffe said the Government should introduce measures to cap the price of building land by giving local authorities the power to purchase development property at a premium of only 25 per cent over its existing use value.
The party would insist that any coalition it entered would adopt such a policy, Mr Cuffe said. "We've got to break the golden circle between builders, developers and politics."
Stating that the standard mortgage lending policy of up to three times income was routinely breached by the banks, Mr Cuffe called for for controls over lending. "Banks must be regulated to ensure that they don't continue contributing to the rise in house pricers. We would gradually reduce the multiple of salaries that banks would be allowed lend over a five-year period."
The party's finance spokesman, Mr Dan Boyle, said that it was now likely that many mortgage holders would be repaying their loans until and beyond retirement.
He said the €3.8 billion in taxes foregone in tax relief for home-owners would be better spent on the direct building of housing, particularly social housing.
"The danger of Government policy on housing is that it seems to be less about meeting the accommodation needs of our citizens, than helping the acquisition of housing as a means of generating wealth through speculation." The Green policy document said 10,000 social housing units per year should be built.
The policy also includes plans to establish a National Housing Authority whose objective would be to "shape and influence the development of national housing policy" by addressing the deficit in data about the market.
The party also wants to reform the Land Register and seek the mapping of all property in land to ensure that all interests in property are registered "and this information is made fully transparent and publicly accessible".
