Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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25. To ask the Minister for Finance if he is planning to close tax incentives benefitting vulture funds, other property-related investment funds and profit driven investors to prevent them buying up residential property given the on-going housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5109/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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A sustainable funding landscape for housing development requires diverse pools of capital, with each playing a complementary role in the funding ecosystem. This will include development funding from our domestic banks, non-bank and alternative lenders, institutional investors, private equity providers and State sources, working together to deliver homes of all tenure types at the scale we need. Development vehicles may operate through a type of fund called an Irish Collective Asset Management Vehicle (ICAV) (which will be considered an Irish Real Estate Fund or “IREF” where the necessary criteria are met), a public company, limited partnership or an Irish company. A Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) could also be a development vehicle.

On 22 October 2024, following Government approval, my predecessor published the ‘Funds Sector 2030: A Framework for Open, Resilient & Developing Markets’ a wide-ranging review of the funds and asset management sector. The Review fulfilled a recommendation of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare 2022 report which called for “ an examination of the regimes for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) the Irish Real Estate Funds (IREFs) and their role in the property sector, including how they support housing policy objectives”.

The report of the Funds Review team noted that following an initial flow of firms, the REIT regime now consists of one firm and therefore has not developed sufficient scale since 2013 and that there is therefore not a strong case at present for any significant amendments to the REIT regime. On IREFs, the Funds Review Team recommended consideration of a public consultation to set out potential options for an entity-level tax for IREFs. Officials in my Department are reviewing these recommendations which I will consider in due course.

Separately, and as the Deputy will be aware, given a growing concern in 2021 that new housing, which might otherwise have been available for purchase by individual buyers, was being acquired by investment funds for subsequent rental, the Government took a number of actions to discourage significant purchases of houses by those funds. This included the introduction of a higher rate of Stamp Duty on the acquisition of houses situated in the State where a person acquires at least 10 such houses during any 12-month period, with some exemptions and refund provisions applying. This rate was increased to 15 per cent from 2 October 2024. As well as dis-incentivising the bulk acquisition of houses by institutional investors, the higher stamp duty rate also helps to level the playing field by reducing the price premium that investors are able to offer in comparison to owner-occupiers.