From housing crisis to moving crisis
PROPERTY
Property Insights by Johnny Gannon, Fair Deal Property
Ireland’s housing crisis has become a moving crisis, and we must begin treating it as such.
In Galway, first-time buyers now account for approximately 70 per cent of home purchases. The highly incentivised new-homes market is also dominated by first-time buyers, supported through Help to Buy and the First Home Scheme.
Those measures have helped stimulate new-build supply, which now represents approximately one quarter of housing transactions. The Government deserves credit for creating momentum in the new home category.
The larger problem, however, lies in the other three quarters of the market: existing homes. The number advertised for sale has fallen by approximately half since 2020. The second-hand market has seized up, with fewer properties becoming available each year. Building new homes remains essential, but we must also start trading the homes we already have.
Ireland has one of Europe’s highest levels of under-occupied housing. Many older people live alone, or as couples, in houses larger than they need. Many would gladly move to smaller, warmer and more manageable homes if suitable properties were available, and the cost of moving was supported.
That support should begin with a Help to Move grant for older homeowners who purchase an appropriate new property and release a larger home for sale. We must urgently reorient our construction model to deliver private housing for senior citizens in every town and city nationwide.
There is nothing wrong with supporting first-time buyers, including recent arrivals. Our falling birth rate, ageing population and growing economy require inward migration. However, people who have worked and paid taxes here throughout their lives should receive comparable assistance, particularly when their move would unlock badly needed family housing.
A €250 million mover fund, matching the scale of current Help to Buy incentives, would represent only a fraction of the State’s €11.8 billion housing intervention. At €30,000 per grant, it could support approximately 8,300 moves and potentially release another 8,300 family homes. With each grant releasing two homes to market rather than one while increasing second hand stock by 70 per cent.
Whisper it… but inflation is pushing new-build sizes downwards, towards the limits of what growing families require. These compact, low-maintenance and energy-efficient homes are increasingly more suited to downsizers. Policy should encourage the construction industry to build them in age-friendly communities, freeing larger existing homes for younger families.
The solution is before us. Help older people move, and the entire housing market moves with them.