Sir, – Mary Lou McDonald’s assertion that the price of an average house in Dublin should be €300,000 has caused some upset (News, December 20th). This is mainly because the current average price is €430,000, and achieving a lower average would involve recent home buyers losing a very substantial sum in equity.
Perhaps the goal may be restated.
The most recent CSO figures for income distribution (based on 2018 Revenue data) put the average income for a person employed full time at around €52,000. A reasonable goal would be that an average house should cost about six times the average income.
This could be achieved without reducing house prices – for example, by increasing people’s gross income via economic development, or their net income by lowering taxes, while at the same time increasing housing supply to stabilising prices.
How this magic trick will be performed by Sinn Féin in government is something we are all waiting to see. – Yours, etc,
JOHN THOMPSON,
Phibsboro,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – I am writing in response to the article regarding the Government’s new First Home Scheme (“Some 3,200 first-time buyers avail of Government’s new First Home Scheme”, News, January 9th). I strongly believe this scheme will result to be ineffective as it doesn’t solve the significant housing issues in our country today.
This scheme states that it has provided 3,200 first-time buyers with “support”; however, the average price of one of these houses was €380,000 which is still a ridiculous price for a house considering that the average salary in Ireland is around €45,000 per year (pre-tax).
A majority of first-time buyers are people who just completed their college courses and have began entry-level position which provides them with a lower income than this. On top of that, they may struggle with paying off college tuitions and student accommodation expenses. In my opinion, these points should definitely be taken into consideration when making these schemes.
I also believe that this approach to solving the housing crisis is very unrealistic as the numbers in State-funded emergency accommodation are skyrocketing due to the increasing rent costs and as of November 2023, over 13,514 people avail of these accommodation options.
The Government should be budgeting toward the construction of affordable social housing. – Yours, etc,
ZOFIA KAZIMIERKIEWICZ,
Dublin 24.