Sales prices are to be published - but when?

THERE HAS been a general welcome by the property industry to the Government plan to set up a database to record all residential and commercial property sales.

The initiative, announced in the Renewed Programme for Government, comes after auctioneers were effectively forced to withhold information on house selling prices from May, 2008, following the intervention of the National Consumer Agency (NCA).

Publication of private treaty sale prices could only take place with the consent of the seller and the buyer under the Data Protection Act. The NCA became involved after The Irish Timeswrote to the Irish Auctioneers Valuers Institute (IAVI) about price claims that were substantially above the actual agreed sales prices.

The Renewed Programme for Government promises to amend the Data Protection Act to allow the publication of the sale price of property and “create and maintain a House Price Database in the Department of the Environment where details of residential and commercial property sales will be maintained for statistical purposes”.

Aine Myler, president of the IAVI, yesterday welcomed the news but wondered what timeframe the Government had in mind. “What is not explicit in this statement is when the legislation will be changed and how accessible the register will be. As such we call on the Minister to ensure that the law is quickly amended and that everyone should have easily accessible, free on-line access to this information.”

Mark FitzGerald, chief executive of the Sherry FitzGerald Group, questioned whether the DoE had the capacity to collect the information and analyse it on a monthly basis.

Quarterly information was too historical for consumers, he said. As it would not be possible to collate information until sales were closed, he suggested that the contract date be included in the data provided. He said some citizens may genuinely view the change as an intrusion on their privacy.

Fintan McNamara, chief executive of the IPAV said the move would give transparency to the market. “Everybody would know the correct facts not rumours. The current situation makes no sense and makes it difficult for buyers, sellers and agents to operate.”