Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin TD has said that the latest CSO figures show that house price inflation is continuing unabated.

The CSO Residential Property Price Index report for January 2022 shows that house prices across the State have risen by almost 15%.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“The latest CSO Residential Property Price Index report shows that property prices are continuing rise at unsustainable levels across the state.

“Since January 2021, house prices have increased by 14.8%, with prices in Dublin rising by 13.3% and prices outside Dublin increasing by up to 16%. The border region continues to experience extreme house price inflation; with prices up 24.7%.

“The government has done nothing to tackle rising house prices. We are still awaiting the publication of the affordable housing regulations to implement the measures in the Affordable Housing Act which was signed into law 8 months ago.

“According to the latest CSO data, the median new build house price for first time buyers across the State is now €349,000.

“The median new build house price in Wicklow for the same group of buyers is €500,000. In Westmeath, the median new build house price for first time buyers is €450,000, in Sligo its €335,000 and in Kildare its €395,000.

“Ordinary working people across the State are increasingly being priced out of homeownership. The government is abjectly failing to offer any real relief for aspiring homeowners as it continues to wrangle with the banks as to how its ill-fated shared equity home loan scheme will operate. 

“Sinn Féin has a costed plan to deliver affordable homes to buy. We would deliver an average of 4,000 genuinely affordable homes to buy per year, available to purchase for €230,000 or less. 

“This government, the same as the one before it and the one before that is beholden to the private market for the delivery of housing. This isn’t working and the thousands of people moving home to parents to try and save; or struggling to pay rent and save for a deposit; or who are being outbid by institutional investors can tell them that.”