The minister said he wanted house prices to "stabilise". Alamy Stock Photo
James Browne
Browne said affordability was “the absolute key” for houses, but would not be drawn to voice his support for house prices dropping.
HOUSING MINISTER JAMES Browne has repeatedly declined to say whether he wants house prices to fall, instead saying he wants them to stabilise and become more affordable.
Browne was pressed on the issue during an interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, after presenter Gavin Jennings asked when house prices would begin to come down.
The minister pointed to a “moderation” of price growth in Dublin, which he attributed to increased housing supply.
Asked again when house prices would come down, Browne pointed to last year’s increase in housing supply.
He said it was “the first year we’ve seen a big increase in the capacity where we delivered more homes than the population increase demanded”.
Asked directly whether he wanted prices to fall, Browne replied: “What I want is to certainly see house prices stabilise.”
When the question was put to him again, the fourth question in quick succession on house prices, Browne said affordability was “the absolute key” and depended on both property prices and wages.
“When you get hung up on a little thing about whether house prices increase or decrease, what matters is affordability,” Browne said.
Browne pointed to government supports including the Help to Buy and First Home schemes, which he said were helping people get onto the property ladder.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that residential property prices continued to rise in the year to August, increasing by 5.1% nationally.
Prices rose by 3.9% in Dublin and by 6.2% outside the capital, while the national median price paid for a home over the previous 12 months reached €400,000.
The annual rate of increase was the lowest recorded since December 2023, but national property prices now stand 28.2% above their previous peak during the Celtic Tiger era.
Browne was also questioned about his decision to phase out “turnkey” purchases for social housing after 2027.
Under the model, councils and approved housing bodies purchase newly built homes from developers after construction has begun or been completed, without having influenced the design or type of homes delivered.
Browne argued that some councils had become too reliant on buying completed developments which would otherwise have been offered to private buyers.
“We are saying to local authorities, you cannot sweep in any more to buy those, to take them away from what otherwise would have been built anyway and would go to the private sector,” Browne said.
New applications for funding turnkey purchases will cease after 31 December 2027, with social housing increasingly expected to be delivered through direct building by councils and approved housing bodies.
Browne stressed that councils would still be able to engage developers at an earlier stage to build social homes on their behalf.
Asked how many additional homes the change would deliver, the minister did not provide a figure.
“I don’t believe in targets. What I believe is in structures, in frameworks,” he said.
Browne was also asked about when homelessness figures would come down.
The number of people in emergency accommodation increased by 358 in August to 17,885, a new record.
“We’re taking every measure we can to address the homeless crisis in this country,” Browne replied, adding that the government’s aim “is to bring it down as quickly as possible, but we do that by driving in driving supply”.
“I am confident we can get the homelessness situation addressed,” he said.