affordable housing/dcc are people wary of their prices in this last draw?

Has anyone been offered anything in this last draw frm dcc & turned it down?.Im concerned about the prices of the housing they are offering, ive been on the list for years & have kept copies of all the preference forms. The price of the units has remained static or risen, not so the market. We all know house prices have fallen quite a bit.. Is anyone else getting, dare i say suspicious? I hate to say it but.. it seems a nice way for developers to offload properties that maybe are not selling anyway. The gap between the affordable price & market price seems to be closing.

You shouldn't buy if you don't like the price.

The prices used by the Councils bare no resemblance to current market prices and in some cases, buying privately in area close to the affordable property is roughly the same price if not cheaper. It is a scandal that they are rushing through applications for affordable housing and offering (off loading) properties to unsuspecting people who think they are getting an 'affordable' home when the only person benefiting is a developer who has a huge surplus of stock in undesirable locations (I mean in terms of near transport, work etc) that he can offload for a small profit as opposed to the huge hit facing some developers over the coming years.

I know from my sister how hard it was for her to get approval for affordable housing three years ago. Every detail was examined by the ah people and she had to prove that she could afford the repayments. In all it took about 9 months to finally get approval and since then prices have plummeted. I would advise anyone going the ah route to either get the valuation redone in line with current market conditions or the reduction % needs to increase as the current properties being offered from ah are not satisfying the requirements of people who require ah in the first place.

Hi all,
Yeah I'm starting to wonder too...just been talking to someone in DCC about the offers I was made; Belmayne and Royal Canal Park. RCP ready to view and I quote...."developer can't leave them lying vacant" and basically if I'm not interested in this one then I'm out of the loop....got the distanct impression developers might actually be "off-loading" some of these "vacant apartments" as AH.....anyway was told viewing for RCP will happen in next week or 2 but Belmayne notfinished yet...so "another couple of months"....and it's typical I'm more interested in the Belmayne one. I was also asked if I had a price list....wondering is this something to be concerned about too!!!!

How come you are given the option of two? I thought you were drawn out for one and offered that one? Has the way they do the lottery changed?

Fingal are sending out a few different places quite regularly nowadays

Hi,
Sorry I shoud've explained I've been on the list 2 years or more I think, can't remember so the longer you're on the list you're name goes into the hat more than once...at least that's what I was told when I asked how come I got offered 2. Then again I have been hearing that there are 2 seperate lists; for higher and lower earners....not sure where I fit in on that one!! It's all a tad confusing if you ask me and the fact that all 4 councils operate a different sytem doesnt really help I feel.

Another thing I'm just want to throw out there as I'm not too well up on the whole AH process.....I was told Belmayne wont be ready for another couple of months, I'm in Phase 2 apparently and I was told I'll be buying directly from the builder!!?? Just wondering if anyone out there has been in this situation.....I mean where are DCC in all of this if I end up buying from the builder....I know I probably should've asked while on the phone to DCC....I mean am I at a disadv or an adv.....and is it back to the earlier question, are developers off-loading apartments as AH???? Completely confused now!!!

I was offered a two bed in RCP . Think i'm gonna take it too. Any particular reason you're not interested?
Also they say the price is between 250-295.
Any ideas what they mean by that i.e. is it extra for parking or are there different sizes or something?
thanks

Hi adm2006,

Well Belmayne is nearer to where I'm living now...I haven't seen the RCP ones yet so I haven't ruled it out totally.....yeah the price range is 250 - 295..I'm presuming there's a few to view whenever I get my appointment and they might difffer in price based on square footage....but I'm not sure!
have you seen the 2-bed in RCP??? If so what did you think...I'd be interested to know another AH buyers view on it.

I'm buying in RCP, absolutely gorgeous apartments but quite small.(690 sq) Great area, canal running through it etc...i'm very excited about living there, and there seems to be a great community atmosphere, near city centre etc....

I haven't seen it yet. i just went out for a look around the area. huge amount of appartments in ashtown but it seemed quite nice to me with good amenities.the canal is also nice.

Re: buying an affordable house in the current market

I have been offered an apartment in RCP and some of my friends suggests to hold and not to buy at this time. The clawback is 17% and there is the possibility that the market price would fall close to this value in the next couple of years. If this happens it is probably better to wait and buy on the open market and enjoy a broader selection of properties.

I think the best option would be if the DCC would offer the option of delaying the buy for one or two years. Or if the DCC would restore the clawback to the original levels of 26% of the market price.

How likely would be for the DCC to consider this alternatives?

A friend of mine works in council (not in AH) and says it may be worthwhile to try and negotiate the clawback with dcc - perhaps get and independant valuation.
Would be interested to know how it panned out for you if you did that.

Re: buying an affordable house in the current market

mancino said:

I think the best option would be if the DCC would offer the option of delaying the buy for one or two years. Or if the DCC would restore the clawback to the original levels of 26% of the market price.

How likely would be for the DCC to consider this alternatives?

Click to expand...

Neither of those options would be possibilities for the council. The first would see the council see millions in revenue tied up for years and would result in a big interest bill which would only be picked up the taxpayer.

The second would mean that apts would have to be sold below cost. The council can't lower the cost prices, they can only reduce the clawback.