Sir, – I’m a first-time buyer and appalled that the Government has removed mortgage interest relief. I’ve been involved in purchasing a home since the end of November and it looks like I am going to miss the December 31st deadline. I’ve been looking to buy a home since early June this year. In this time, the homes available to buy have been scarce, especially in Dublin. I have lost out on two properties in the six months, both through bidding wars. I have finally gone sale agreed, which I am very excited about.
Unfortunately, I have started the purchasing process too late to finalise the documents, etc, before the new year. The issue here, as others will know, is not due to the lack of trying to purchase in 2012, it’s the process that comes with buying a house. I am convinced that the Government should rethink its method of just stopping the interest relief assistance based upon the date of drawing down the mortgage. Rather, it should look at it from the point at which the purchasing process started.
Many people will miss the December 31st deadline and could have gone sale agreed from September on, so I strongly protest at how the Government has looked at the cut-off point.
For the first time since January 1st, 2002, first-time buyers have no assistance to get on the property ladder, other than not paying the property tax, which hardly equates to the same economic assistance.
We are basically left stranded compared to the assistance that has been in place for years. End of 2012-2013 buyers now face high interest rates, stamp duty and slightly inflated prices in Dublin due to a purchasing incentive to get a market going which cannot now be availed of.
One of the properties I missed out on was purchased by an investor who I could not compete with financially. I was in a bidding war (which will sound familiar to many people) and lost out. I believe from talking to other first-time buyers that there are a lot of investors out there who are snapping properties up quickly for financial reasons.
The properties that investors are purchasing are perfectly good family homes within the Dublin area; as investors have more means than your average first-time buyer, they are driving prices of these average homes up, making them unattainable for first-time buyers. Within the area in which I am buying, I know of two houses in the past four months that have been bought by investors. – Yours, etc,