Sir, - Building land prices and the price of new houses are very much to the fore. The market is seeing a progression in prices which probably is more positive than even the position up to 1974. There is a perception that the value of building land is the real "cat among the pigeons" and no doubt the very high cost of serviced land is a major element in the forward march of major new house price increases. I wonder if any of your readers remember the Report of the Joint Committee on Building Land which was launched with a flourish in 1985. Although this document quickly died the death, and rightly so because it was full of misconceptions, nevertheless appendix C at page 138 of that report is worth taking out and dusting, if one is really concerned at the price of housing.
At the date of the report appendix C demonstrated (and let us remember this was the Government's own figures at the time) that out of the price of a house at £90,000, the Government took a mighty 47 per cent in taxes, one way or the other. The insatiable demand of the State for money is, probably, on the figures adduced in that report, the biggest element in the inflation of the price to the purchaser.
It might be useful if the Department was asked to analyse a typical land transaction in the Metropolitan area on the basis of 10 house sites to the acre at the moment, using appendix C as the basis for calculation, and let us see how much of the price relates to the State's levies and taxes, from initial purchase to the sale of the final product. I would suggest, on the basis of the figures that are available to us, that the developer/ entrepreneur who takes the risk receives less for his efforts than the State does by placing impediments and hurdles in the way of getting things done. The delays emanating from the planning process are little short of outrageous whilst the inability to provide the necessary sanitary services, which is a State requirement under the Public Health Acts, is quite incomprehensible.
Obviously freeing up more land for development is one answer but if Dublin is to be contained, as I think it should be, then perhaps the answer to the inherent problems is to allow higher densities with less small parcels of uneconomic open space required within housing developments.
I await research into the question of State receipts with considerable anticipation. - Yours, etc.,
Templeogue, Dublin 16.