Written answers

Tuesday, 1 February 2005

8:00 pm

Photo of Phil HoganPhil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 44: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has satisfied himself that the price of homes bought by first-time buyers in Dublin will benefit from the recent stamp duty concession; and if he will consider automatic indexation in this. [2533/05]

Photo of Brian CowenBrian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the 2005 budget introduced a stamp duty relieving measure for first-time house purchasers who are owner-occupiers of second-hand houses by increasing the stamp duty exemption threshold for such purchasers from €190,500 to €317,500 and by having reduced rates for house values up to €635,000. This relieving measure will further assist affordability for first-time buyers and will help some first-time buyers to afford a starter home who might not otherwise be able to do so. It will also help to open the second hand market more to first-time buyers who had been increasingly deterred by the impact of stamp duty.

The current high levels of housing output, coupled with the fact that the reductions have been confined to the first-time buyer segment of the market, should lessen the risk of the measure causing an increase in house prices. The reductions in stamp duty for second-hand houses should remove distortion between the new and second-hand markets for first-time buyers by reducing the degree of concentration of first-time buyer demand on the new house market.

I have no plans to introduce stamp duty indexation for first-time or other purchasers.

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