Docklands offers few incentives to investors

Many of those residential investors squeezed out of the market by the measures adopted on foot of the Bacon report will be keeping a close eye on the areas designated for tax incentives under the new Urban Renewal Bill later this summer.

But any hopes they harbour of fresh investment opportunities are likely to be dashed as allowances focus on owner-occupiers and commercial developments while incentives such as Section 23 are more judiciously applied than in the past.

Even Dublin's Docklands, an area many property market experts believe will need investors' money if it is to be successfully revived, is unlikely to provide opportunities for the small residential investor in the short term.

"At the present moment, housing is being built all over the Docklands," says Mr Gus Mac Amhlaigh, general manager of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA).

"For the foreseeable future, we can't recommend incentives [to the Government] for housing as we would have to certify that this building wouldn't happen without tax incentives and this is not the case."

However, Mr Mac Amhlaigh says the authority would keep the situation under review and would be watching the market. The Dublin Docklands Area Master Plan 1997 provides a framework for the physical, social and economic rejuvenation of the area, one of the State's most neglected urban areas. Its social objective is "to breathe new life into communities which have suffered from the decline in traditional port-related activities".

The plan covers 1,300 acres in all, stretching from the Tolka River on Dublin's northside to Ringsend on the southside and contains an estimated 230 development acres. Under the terms of the plan, there is provision for accommodation for an extra 25,000 people in the area over the next 15 years which would imply the building of an extra 10,000 residential units.

Some 20 per cent of this has been earmarked as "affordable" housing and the authority is currently looking at how this might be provided in the area.

However, many property market observers believe development of the Docklands will not really take off without the involvement of the private investor although it may be two or three years before they are encouraged to get back into the market.

"Certain sites will never get developed without allowances, particularly ones way down in the heart of the Docklands. The allowances will have to be site specific and each scheme will be evaluated on its own merits. But Section 23 or 27 allowances should be available in certain areas down there which will never be developed without incentives in place," says one estate agent.

He notes those looking for homes to live in will be reluctant to buy in old run-down industrial areas where the infrastructure is poor.

"It's different for investors. They just want to put money in and get a return. The Government is going to have to give something to stimulate development. Investors always drive the market."

Docklands aside, the recent trend of pushing investors in residential property out of the market in favour of owner-occupiers is likely to remain in evidence when the new urban renewal scheme comes into effect on August 1st. There will be no blanket tax and capital allowances for investors as in the past, and fewer areas are likely to be tax designated. The new Urban Renewal Bill, which is currently going through the Oireachtas, has been designed to take greater account of the social dimension of urban renewal at a time of strong economic growth, high levels of investment, a booming construction industry and pressure on house prices.

Designations for urban renewal will be based on the concept of integrated area plans (IAPs) which will address not only issues of physical development but will also cover wider issues of local socio-economic benefit such as training, education and social housing.

"It will be a key goal of the new scheme . . . to nurture and enhance the social dimension to urban renewal," Mr Bobby Molloy, Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, has said.

"This requires the integration of issues such as community development, education and training, employment and local economic development opportunities into our future plans for physical urban renewal."