Sinn Féin to table motion on the purchase of houses by investment funds as Dáil returns
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As the Dáil returns on Wednesday, Sinn Féin are set to put pressure on the Government to deal with investment funds buying up swathes of homes across the country.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin is to table a Private Members Motion calling on the Government to increase stamp duty to 17% on the purchase of houses by investment funds. At present, the stamp duty on purchases by investment funds is at 10%.
It comes just days after 46 out of 54 houses were bought at Belcamp Manor in Balgriffin in Dublin for over €21.5m by an investment fund.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr Ó Broin said that while the Government did increase stamp duty in 2021 to deal with the matter, they did not increase it enough to disincentivise investment funds from snapping up houses.
“One of the things [Government] did was they increased stamp duty — and at the time we said they weren't increasing stamp duty by enough — all it would lead to is the future purchasing of homes with higher rents and that's exactly what's happened here in Belcamp,” Mr Ó Broin said.
Mr Ó Broin said that the homes could have been sold to either local authorities or to an Approved Housing Body (AHB), rather than an investment fund.
He said that increasing stamp duty on these kinds of purchases is the “only way to disincentivise this kind of inappropriate bulk purchasing”.
“We hope to get support from across the Opposition. I don't think anybody can justify this kind of activity and what it shows is the measures Government introduced in 2021 weren’t enough, if they had listened to us this wouldn’t have happened,” Mr Ó Broin said.
“We’re urging them to see sense and to follow our lead.” Mr Ó Broin said that the party’s proposals were centred around ensuring that institutional investors stop having a “very distorting impact” on the housing market and on home prices.
However, the Sinn Féin housing spokesperson said that the party is not against private sector investment, saying that institutional investors are needed to build homes for sale and for rent.