Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the point that non-household buyers have increased significantly, the CSO has clarified that this classification is made up of three broad categories, namely, State and semi-State bodies, charitable, religious and approved housing bodies and private companies, which are the REITs and investment funds. It is the CSO's intention to publish a breakdown of these figures into the three categories shortly. However, it is likely to be March 2018 at the earliest before it has any actual figures. At that stage, we will have the information to do the analysis. There are three REITs operating in the Irish market, of which two are active in the residential market. IRES has approximately 2,400 apartments, while Hibernia has just over 300 apartments. The rationale behind the introduction of the REITs was their design specifically for long-term holding of income-producing property. They are not designed to be a vehicle for short-term speculative gains. The REIT regime brought a new source of capital into the market, reducing dependence on banking finance and freeing up available banking finance for other uses. By facilitating collective investment, REITs also provide risk diversification for investors of all sizes to promote the professionalisation of the Irish property market. They are also key to the development of a build-to-rent market in Ireland.

I hear what Deputy Pearse Doherty is saying. We can all have our ideological debates but all parties across both Houses want to try to improve the housing situation for everyone. We will not have the information back from Revenue until next July or thereabouts. As such, we have an information vacuum at this moment in time. To put this in context, there are 2 million homes in the country. It is difficult to pluck a figure from the sky, but if we suggest an average price of €250,000 per home, that is a residential value of €500 billion, excluding commercial property. If one adds commercial property, it is impossible for me to put a figure on it. REITs and IREFs have assets of €18 billion to €19 billion. They have given investors, including pension funds, the opportunity to make a tax-efficient investment. There is a serious problem, as the Deputy well knows, for Irish pension funds into the future. He mentioned one in particular. For each one, there are many thousands of small investors who are trying hard to have a pot for when they retire. It has not been easy. Again, we can have an ideological debate about whether it should be allowed at the higher rate, but for the vast majority of people, these are tax-efficient methods for investing. At €18 billion or €19 billion, it gives smaller investors the opportunity to be tax efficient. They do not have to be at a scale which puts them into a very wealthy person's space. In the scheme of a property sector worth perhaps €500 billion for residential and whatever the value of commercial property is, €18 billion or €19 billion is not a huge amount.