Property advisor, Savills Ireland welcomes the extension of the Help-to-Buy and Residential Development Stamp Duty Refund Schemes announced in Budget 2023 today.

However, overall, Savills expressed its disappointment at the lack of measures in the Budget to foster the supply of housing.

Rental Market – Lack of Measures to Boost Supply

Clarie Neary, Director of Residential Lettings and Management at Savills Ireland commented:

“There is a significant undersupply of properties available to rent in Ireland – stemming from an exodus of private landlords from the market. While the increase of tax relief on pre-letting expenses is to be welcomed, it’s not enough to incentivise landlords to stay in, or return to the market and boost supply.”

Housing Supply – Missed Opportunity

John Swarbrigg, Development Director at Savills Ireland commented:

“We’re in the midst of a housing crisis at a time when inflation, construction costs and a scarcity of development finance are making residential development unviable. To add to that, our planning system requires a mix of unit types in most locations, some of which are extremely challenging to deliver from a viability perspective, apartments and duplex units primarily, particularly in locations outside of the major cities.

This was a missed opportunity by the government to introduce measures that would boost the development of desperately-needed residential supply. For example, while it may not be politically popular, a reduction in the 13.5% VAT rate on the construction of certain residential unit types would have a positive impact on delivery.”

Concrete Levy – Counterproductive at a Time of Rising Construction Costs 

David Browne, Director & Head of New Homes at Savills Ireland commented: 

“Rising construction costs ultimately impact the end purchaser. At a time when affordability is the biggest barrier to home ownership, introducing a levy that will further increase the cost of construction is counterproductive”

Help-to-Buy – A Welcome Extension

David Browne, Director & Head of New Homes at Savills Ireland commented:

“The delivery of new homes continues to fall short of what is required – and the disruption brought by the pandemic – in addition to rising construction costs and inflation – has compounded this. Therefore, nowhere near enough people have benefitted from Help-to-Buy and we welcome its extension.”

Catherine McAuliffe, Director of Residential at Savills Cork also welcomed the extension of Help-to-Buy:

“The extension of Help-to-Buy, coupled with the recently introduced First Home Scheme, will help to ensure housing is more affordable to a larger cohort of first time buyers who have been disappointed by the lack of stock and the increase of prices over the last few years.”

Residential Development Stamp Duty Refund Scheme Extension

John Swarbrigg, Development Director at Savills Ireland commented:

“Since 2017, developers of residential stock have been able to avail of the Residential Development Stamp Duty Refund Scheme, which maintains the rate at 2%.

We welcome the extension of this scheme, as empirical evidence suggests that when additional development costs are incurred, they are passed on to the end purchaser.”