Sir, – Your business section (January 13th) reports that mortgages on all home purchases will rise to €9 billion in 2020. The question arises as to how much of this €9 billion should be attributed to a site-value premium, that is the value attributed to the site in excess of its basic agricultural value.
A conservative view would estimate a site premium of at least 33 per cent of the house sale price, for both new and second-hand homes.
This means that about €3 billion per year is being circuitously routed, every year, from home buyers to landowners and property owners; with the site-value premium being borne in higher mortgages by those people buying the houses.
So please allow me to add my voice to that of Pat O’Brien (Letters, January 15th) who questions why this is happening, all of 50 years after the Kenny report pointed to its inequity. – Yours, etc,
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JOSEPH RYAN,
Ardnacrusha,
Co Clare.