Throwing more borrowed money at houses will increase the price of houses.
So it won't make it much easier for would be purchasers to get on the housing ladder.
Of course, increasing house prices would lead to increased profitability for developers so they would increase their output, by a small amount eventually.
However, it should not be the Central Bank's role to do this.
The government can increase the profitability and bring down the price of houses by the following
- Abolish VAT on new houses
- Abolish development levies
- Abolish social housing levies
The government should also stop buying and building social housing in cities. They are pushing up the prices and squeezing private buyers out of Dublin so that these buyers end up with long commutes. Build social housing outside Dublin where the state could buy or build two or three houses for the price of one in Dublin. Why should workers who pay for their own houses have to commute while those who get social housing, many of whom are not working, demand to be housed in their own community?
Brendan