Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 29 March 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
Social and Affordable Housing: Discussion (Resumed)
Mr. Sean O'Connor:
I do not know. There is a fallout from the Celtic tiger years when many pretty suspect buildings went up. Currently, though, the real issue is that private buyers have dropped out of the market and institutional investors are sucking up the apartment market. It is driving up prices as well. There is a lot commentary around the cost of building apartments, some of which from my own member organisation, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland. I do not necessarily see that. It is not the prices we are paying when we do these forward-purchase deals or if we build ourselves. The costs are clearly rising. Most apartment schemes are just not being marketed for sale to individual buyers any longer. I do not know of any recently.
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