Dr. Mark Cassidy:

The fall-off in inward capital investment in residential is very striking. The evidence is not there yet because we are still seeing the completion of apartments that were started two or three years ago, when the supply of international capital was very good. We have probably seen a 70% to 80% fall-off in inward investment for residential building between the 2020 to 2022 period and the 2023 to 2024 period. Something needs to be done to make it more attractive and to incentivise capital here. A big issue is the increase in interest rates. That has made it much less attractive for international investors but there are other factors at play also. The decline in Ireland has been larger than in other countries. Indeed, in other countries it has already started to pick up as the interest rate environment has improved, but we have not seen that here. Again, the most important issue is making supply more attractive. We need structural and regulatory changes that improve viability and improve supply conditions. That is what is going to make it more attractive for international investors. That is the main thing. That is not to rule out the possibility of incentives or reliefs for developers to supply. They can be looked at but what is important is that there is an holistic approach so that the different incentives are targeted at where the vulnerabilities lie and interact effectively with each other. There is a range of things that the Government can look at but most important is a functioning, viable supply side.