Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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1379. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the acquisition of vacant homes by the Housing Agency using its €70 million fund and other resources available to it; the number of properties offered to the State for purchase from 2016 to 2017 and to date in 2018; the number of offers made by the agency for vacant homes; the number of bids accepted; the number of contracts signed; the number of properties sold on to approved housing bodies; the average cost of these homes; the number of properties that previously had their loans secured by NAMA; and the number of these properties that were previously offered for purchase to local authorities or other State agencies. [36333/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Since the publication of Rebuilding Ireland in mid-2016 to the end of August 2018, the Housing Agency has been offered a total of 3,967 properties from banks, private investment funds and other sources for acquisition, using both the €70 million rotating acquisitions fund and other funds made available to the Agency through Local Authorities. 2,101 of these were offered in 2016 and 2017 and 1,866 have been offered to date in 2018.

In assessing these properties proposed by vendors, the Agency liaised closely with the relevant local authorities to confirm demand and suitability for social housing use. Local authorities confirmed interest in 2,742 of the proposed properties. Following confirmation of interest, vendors withdrew some of the identified properties, due to sales to other parties or for other reasons, leaving a total of 2,163 properties.

The total number of bids submitted by the Agency on available properties was 1,492 and the total number of bids accepted by vendors was 939, with acceptance of a further 97 bids awaiting vendors' decision. 194 properties were withdrawn by vendors after the Agency submitted bids. The bidding process is still ongoing on a number of active portfolios and bids on approximately 60 properties are currently being prepared by the Agency.

The total number of properties for which contracts have been signed at the end of August was 552, with the total number of properties acquired at 529. 181 properties had been sold to Approved Housing Bodies and a further 222 properties were under caretaker lease arrangements with Approved Housing Bodies which allows upgrade works and tenanting to proceed. 17 properties were in the process of being placed under Caretaker Leases. In addition, 109 properties have been transferred directly to local authorities.

The average price of the 529 properties which have been acquired is €184,464 and the average price of the 181 properties sold to Approved Housing Bodies is €216,710. The price of properties sold to Approved Housing Bodies includes the cost of upgrade works required for those properties.

A total of 21 properties have been acquired which had their loans secured by NAMA either at the time of purchase or at a prior time. 19 of these properties were acquired through NAMA and two were acquired separately from an investment fund who had acquired loans from NAMA.

The Agency has bids accepted on a further 21 properties with the investment fund who acquired the associated loans from NAMA. Of the two properties acquired and the 21 properties with bids accepted from the private investment fund which had loans previously secured by NAMA, four were previously offered for social housing by NAMA, but were not considered suitable for social housing at the time of the NAMA loan sale.