Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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149. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to ensure transparency in the home-buying process, to curb ghost bids and gazumping, and to curtail bidding wars that are leading to higher house prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18166/26]

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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House prices are completely out of control and have been for a long time. They have increased by 68% since 2020 when Fianna Fáil took over the housing Ministry - 68%. In Dublin, the median price of a home is €500,000. That is half a million euro for a home. What is the Minister doing to address the issues that are contributing to inflation in the market, such as dysfunction in our housing market, ghost bids, gazumping and opaque bidding processes? What is he doing to address that?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his question, which centres on the home-buying process including ghost bids, gazumping and bidding wars. I recently took over responsibility for the Property Services Regulatory Authority from the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. It regulates property service providers, including estate agents. Estate agents already have to comply with key statutory obligations regulating the home bidding process under the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011, which provides they shall not imply to any person that an offer has been received unless it has in fact been received; they must retain for a period of six years a record of all bids received; and they must confirm in writing to all potential purchasers receipt of their submitted bid. Furthermore, where the Property Services Regulatory Authority receives a complaint alleging fake bids, it has powers to request a copy of all bids received - the record of bids document - and has investigative powers to ensure those bids are genuine.

The ESRI published a report last month, Buying and Selling Property in Ireland, which outlines how aspects of the Irish housing transaction system influence buyer and seller behaviour and provides insights on features of the Irish market that warrant consideration for reform. The matters raised in the report overlap policy, legislative and regulatory areas across the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and my Department. Along with my colleague, the Minister for justice, who has responsibility for the conveyancing process, I will reflect on the recommendations in the report. Any reform proposals will require deeper examination, including assessing impacts on the balance of rights of sellers and buyers in areas such as when a bid becomes legally binding; the rights of buyers to get an independent survey after bid acceptance; where legal responsibility for repair sits after the sale of a property; the merits, drawbacks and implications of closed versus open bid models; and the pros and cons of the various methods that auctioneers capture when displaying updates on bids. I have asked my officials to consider further reform in respect of the regulation of property service providers and the wider recommendations in the report.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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Does the Minister accept that we have a serious problem in our housing market? We can look at it in terms of the gap between advertised sale prices and actual selling prices. We have a problem with that massive gulf and it is ordinary people - families and individuals - who are being squeezed on house prices, which are absolutely unaffordable. What is happening in the housing market can be seen on the Crazy House Prices Instagram page. People are highlighting it. This is going on right now. There is case after case of people being gazumped. There are ghost bids with people putting in a bid in with a price, then it says it has been withdrawn, then it says it does not exist and all the time the house prices are going up. The Minister can do something about this. We need action quickly on this, not just another report that sits on a shelf. We need action. Does the Minister accept there is a problem around bidding in the housing market that is adding to house price inflation?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has accepted there are issues. That is why it set up the expert group. The programme for Government committed to a broad package of measures to assist home buyers under the home buyers help package, many of which have already been progressed by the implementation group of the task force on conveyancing and probate, arising from the previous actions under Housing for All.

The ESRI report itself focused on behavioural aspects of the Irish housing transaction system within the current supply and demand context, and with studies showing how aspects of the system influence buyers' and sellers' behaviour. The task force was set up. There is an implementation group. Those measures are being implemented. We are also continuing to review in the Department what is happening in terms of the home buyers' market.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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I am very concerned because what we saw from the previous Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Government was a commitment to address gazumping, ghost bids and the problems in the market. I am deeply concerned because the Minister is again making commitments to review it but I am not sure about the timeline for delivering changes and action on this. You can read article after article about this. We have examples of estate agents using AI photos to show potential properties and the ads regulator not enforcing. There are massive problems in our housing market that are adding to house price inflation. We cannot just let this be a review of a policy that sits on a shelf. We need to see action and I want the Minister to outline a timeframe for action on this.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. As I said, we have had our task force and we have the implementation group. Many measures have already been implemented and the rest of those measures are being implemented at pace. I am happy with the work the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is doing in this area. I am reviewing the new report that has come from the ESRI to see if further measures are needed on top of that and I will make those decisions. Where measures are needed, I will implement them.