Government has spent €1bn purchasing homes since 2011

The Government has spent close to €1 billion purchasing homes from the private housing sector since 2011.

The average cost of a unit purchased was €162,000, rising to €221,000 in Dublin, according to figures received under the Freedom of Information and collated by Fianna Fáil’s housing spokesman Darragh O’Brien.

The Dublin Fingal TD said figures from the Department of Housing indicate it would have cost €22,000 less (€199,000) to build an entirely new unit in Dublin during the same period.

In Cork, the average price paid for a unit was €191,000, but to have built a new home would have cost €155,000, he said.

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The figures reveal 5,559 homes were purchased from the private housing sector since 2011 while the State’s local authorities have built 2,354 new units over the same period.

“Not only has the Fine Gael plan driven up house prices generally but in many instances it would have been significantly cheaper for the State to build new social homes,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Take Dublin for example; it would have been €29 million less expensive to build the same number of units than the Government chose to buy instead.

“This sad narrative is the very same in every county up and down the country; no vision whatsoever to bring new housing stock on stream and a severe overreliance on the private sector.”

Mr O’Brien said Fianna Fáil will “fight hard” to force Fine Gael towards adopting a comprehensive affordable housing scheme.

“Fine Gael need to realise that this crisis requires them to set aside their orthodoxy and invest in new stock real affordability measures,” he added.