Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Challenges Relating to the Delivery of Housing: Discussion (Resumed)

2:00 am

Dr. Mark Cassidy:

In regard to 100% mortgages, our mortgage message allows an amount of lending, of 15%, above our thresholds. We put a lid on overall lending in terms of the loan to value. However, banks themselves can provide some lending above that. We expect the banks to take into consideration the evidence from a potential homeowner's previous rental payments as evidence of ability to pay. The banks themselves are not operating at the full amount they could. There is potentially some scope for banks to take that into consideration, subject to the overall macro.

In regard to bank finance, we do not have indications of a shortage of bank financing.

We think that banks have been actively lending for development in recent years. We think they have the capacity to significantly increase this lending. They have significant undrawn credit lines available and they have significant capital headroom. Importantly, both major banks have announced significant increases in the amount of lending they are willing to provide for development but they would argue that the demand is not there. That is why we think the focus should be more on equity than on bank lending.

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