Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

One of the most difficult issues for young people today is trying to buy a first house. That problem will get worse over the next 18 months as mortgage interest rates rise. I would like to highlight to the House a particular practice in the housing market in Dublin that was brought to my attention last weekend. A certain auctioneer advertised that 50 housing units would be sold last Saturday and a large number of people queued up to put deposits on the houses in question. Having taken 25 deposits in an hour and a half, the auctioneer, on instruction from the developer, decided to halt the sales and advised people to come back the next day. When they came back the next day, the queue was twice as long and the cost of each house had risen by €28,000.

Whatever voluntary codes of practice are in place for the construction industry in the Dublin area, they are not working. Auctioneers are allowed to employ Wild West tactics when it comes to the sale of properties to first-time buyers. If the industry cannot regulate itself and cannot ensure fair practice, especially for first-time buyers, then the Government should intervene. There are too many incidents of misleading advertising in the property market. People are making money hand over fist due to the very significant demand that is there. The Government needs to intervene with a new, consumer-friendly code of practice to ensure that proper information is given to prospective buyers, as opposed to the nonsense that is currently going on in the Dublin housing market.