Housing Minister rebuts reports of post-budget price hikes

Estate agents and developers have rejected claims that the price of new homes rose significantly in the hours following the first time buyers’ tax rebate announcement in the budget.

Media reports of price increases of up to €45,000 in new developments were described as inaccurate by estate agents who said the rises were historic.

Minister for Housing Simon Coveney also described the increases as a “mistake”.

A spokesman for the Construction Industry Federation said builders would be “cutting off their nose to spite their face” if they raised prices like that.

One development of five-bedroom houses at Thorndale, Delgany, Co Wicklow was reported to have increased in price by €45,000 to €620,000.

Developers Kingscroft said the reports were a “gross misrepresentation” of the facts. The advertised houses were part of a second phase of houses located closer to Delgany village than the first phase and the prices had been decided before the budget announcement, the company said.

“Any lower prices quoted on house search websites earlier this week were in relation to starting prices for the first phase of the development launched earlier in the year and are historic,” the company said in a statement.

“Significantly higher prices were achieved on many of the homes sold in the first phase.”

In one instance an increase of €38,000 to €210,000 was listed for new three-bedroom houses at Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

Mistake

Estate agent Brian Gleeson said, however, it was a mistake and the price had been €210,000 since August. The increase had been updated at the time on gleesonproperty.com but the company forgot to notify myhome.ie. The price change was listed on budget day October 12th.

The estate agent said the price rise in August was because the first phase of houses sold were cheaper because they had north-facing gardens. The second phase gardens had a “much better” southwest facing aspect and the price rose in August to €210,000, he said.

A spokesperson for myhome.ie said the property website advertises properties for sale on behalf of estate agents. “The content of the brochure and the price point are a matter for the agent in conjunction with the seller. The agent is solely responsible for updating details of the development such as price.”

A price rise of €10,000 was listed for a new four-bed semi-detached house in Shanganagh Drive, River Lane in Shankill, Dublin, originally on the market at €585,000.

Keith Lowe, managing director of DNG said however that the house was a corner site and had always been priced €10,000 higher than the others in the four-unit development.

DNG is one of the biggest agents for new homes in the Dublin area, he said. None of the firm’s 15 to 20 developer clients had increased their prices following the budget announcement. Builders had not been able to sell, he added.

But there had been a significant increase in interest following the budget and he believed buyers were waiting to see what would be in the budget before making decisions.

Mr Lowe said developers were more interested in selling homes on a sustainable basis and being able to build more.

He said some people seemed to think “you can just put the price up and sell a house. It’s just not like that”.

Under the scheme, first time buyers can receive a rebate on tax paid in the previous four years up to a maximum of €20,000.