No land bubble here, says Leo

LEO Varadkar has denied the country has a land bubble problem.

A number of large-scale property development companies have snapped up sites with the potential to buy thousands of homes in recent months.

However, the Taoiseach said he doesn’t believe there is danger of the market getting out of control.

‘I haven’t seen convincing evidence of a land bubble at this stage but it’s something we have to look out for,’ he said.

‘I do think there is a lot of land that is not being made available for development quickly enough and that’s why we brought in the derelict site levy and vacant site tax, for example, so that more land can be made available.

‘Its also why we’re setting up the Land Development Agency, which will give the agency powers to acquire land and develop it.’ According to Mr Varadkar, the agency will develop State-owned lands for private and social housing.

It will also have powers to acquire land on behalf of the State. ‘This will see the Government getting a lot more involved in the housing market and developing land for housing,’ he said.

The questions were put to Mr Varadkar after it was highlighted that a recent Central Bank report warned of a boomand-bust cycle in our economy. Speaking at Leinster House, he added that the Government is ‘making some progress on housing but not enough’.

He said that ‘we are seeing rent stabilising, falling in some places, and the number of homes built in 2017 has seen an increase of 75% from the last two years, and social housing waiting lists are falling’. However, he added that ‘the numbers of people in emergency housing are tracking upwards and we don’t have adequate housing supply’.