Construction BUSINESS

Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government, Alan Kelly T.D., and the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, T.D., yesterday announced a number of measures with the aim of kick-starting new housing construction and enhancing supply at more affordable prices.

A number of actions will be initiated from January of next year which will include:

– Enhanced supply of more affordable starter homes in key locations through a targeted rebate of development contributions in Dublin and Cork for housing supplied under certain price levels.

– New National Apartment Planning Guidelines to be issued by the Environment Minister to reduce the cost of apartment building in Dublin City by approximately €20,000 per unit.

– Changes to aspects of the operation of Strategic Development Zones to enable swifter adjustments to meet market requirements.

– The Governments Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to examine funding for housing infrastructure on a case-by-case basis.

These measures will combine with previous announcements including, the introduction of a vacant site levy, new Part V arrangements and 20,000 starter homes for the Greater Dublin area to be funded by NAMA.

“The revised apartment planning standards will uphold good planning practice and at the same time reduce costs of providing an apartment development by at least €20,000 per unit. While changes of this kind are contemplated in Dublin City Council’s development plan, however there is strong evidence emerging that developers were waiting for these to take effect in 2017 before initiating development and we believe it’s time to fast-track the introduction of the National Guidelines”, said Minister Kelly.

Then he added :

“Also, these new guidelines will allow for some city centre developments to be built without the very large costs associated with underground and multi-storey car-parks, which recognises the trend towards urban dwellers who wish to avail instead of lower purchase and rental costs and prefer to walk, cycle and use public transport.”

Commenting on the package of housing proposals put forward by Ministers Kelly and Noonan yesterday, John McCartney, Director of Research at Savills said :

“The focus on stimulating the supply side of the market is appropriate and very welcome. In our pre-budget submission we recommended that local authority levies should be cut to reduce development costs and kick start new construction. We are delighted that this suggestion has been on-board and we are confident that the targeted rebate system will expedite the delivery of new housing in key population hot spots.”