Rents will increase and there will be no improvement in the supply of rented accommodation as a result of measures adopted by the Government yesterday, Mr Kieran Murphy, director of the housing advice and research group, Threshold, has said.
Mr Murphy said the Government's measures to increase stamp duties would discourage people from buying property to rent.
"The market is going to be less attractive to get into," he said. He added that the anti-speculation property tax of 2 per cent would also mean fewer people would enter the rented property market.
Rents would increase as a result of the new tax and the increased stamp duty, as property owners would pass the cost on to tenants.
Mr Fintan McNamara of the Irish Property Owners' Association also said the stamp duty charges and the new property tax would damage the private rented accommodation market. "They will lead to further increases across the market and a reduction of rental accommodation at the low-cost end of the market," he said.
Mr Greg Maxwell, director of the Dublin Simon Community, said landlords would be discouraged from entering the market because of the property tax on second homes. He added there would be a decrease in the amount and choice of rented accommodation. Threshold's Mr Murphy said the Bacon report failed to distinguish between speculators, who wished to make money on appreciating properties over a short period of time, and investors, who owned property for the purpose of providing rented accommodation.
He said the private rented sector was important to develop for people with low incomes and those who would immigrate to Ireland in the coming years under the Government's immigration programme.