Young people ‘blacklisted’ from housing market

national | housing | press release

Friday June 01, 2007 15:54

by SDLP Youth - SDLP

SDLP Youth shocked at the continual rise in house prices, leaving young people with no hopes of getting onto the housing ladder.

SDLP Youth Chairman Gary McKeown has expressed concern at the findings of a new report which show that house prices in Northern Ireland are continuing to spiral.

Mr McKeown said: “It is extremely worrying that there seems to be no sign of the price growth in the housing market slowing. House prices are now higher here than in Scotland, Wales and many parts of England, even though wages in the north of Ireland are a lot lower than in Britain.

“Prices have gone up 46% in the past year and up 11% during the first quarter of 2007.

“There isn’t a chance in hell of a first-time buyer being able to get onto the property ladder now without putting themselves in massive and dangerous debt. The only young people able to buy houses now are those from wealthy backgrounds. The vast majority of hard-working young people find themselves unable to pay the exorbitant prices now being asked for property.

“The effect of these massive house prices is that most young people now find themselves effectively blacklisted from being able to buy themselves a home.”

Mr McKeown added: “Not only are young people forced into rented accommodation, which perpetuates the ability of property magnates to milk the system for massive profits, but the inability to buy their own homes is going to force a lot of people to move away from the north of Ireland to areas where the cost of living is lower.

“This will present massive problems for the economy here as skilled and educated people will leave in their droves if they find that it isn’t worth their while living here.”

ENDS

Notes: Source of figures- University of Ulster Quarterly House Price Index

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Comments (1 of 1)

Elderly Europe is hijacking our children

by John F Higgins - Worried father of Four

Tue Jun 05, 2007 17:06

Hello, I just surfed into your site. I am a father of four children between the ages of 22 and 30. I went up for election as an independent candidate in Sligo North Leitrim to highlight this very grave injustice that is being perpetrated on our young men and women on this isle of ours. The bottom line is that house prices both North and South are increasing rapidly because of the unseemly inward investment in mortgages from Elderly Europe! What is happening is that financial companies are bungling hundreds of mortgages together and selling them to European Pension Funds etc one and two billion euros at a time; now they take a big commission from the European Pension Fund; and then they have the balance to lend out again, and on and on and on!. The limit is: what the youth will bear. All the banks etc are at it; loads of commission is being collected from Pension Funds etc.
Our Governments are restricted from borrowing 60% of GNP by various EU agreements; but there is no restriction on the amount that Banks etc can lend out to our young men and women, can be up to 6 and 9 times salary. I reckon that c.€50,000,000,000 (yes 10 zeros) has entered the Southern Irish Housing market in this way. Housing in Dublin has increased by c. three times in the past 10 years when the CPI Index only increased by 30%. THIS IS PURE ECONOMIC MADNESS. This investment mirrors the total USA investment of €50Bn in the Irish Economy but will pull in the opposite direction i.e. young people will need huge salaries to buy a house. USA investment will fly out of Ireland. I called for a National Enquiry into this whole affair; even went to the expense of paying for an input to The Sunday Independent to highlight the potential disaster of this unregulated investment in Ireland. Ouch! The Silence! I reckon that this small economy will not be able to withstand worrying implications of this unplanned (by Govt. Authorities, politicians, etc). European Pension Funds are also being ripped off! All this is happening unbeknownst to our Politicians. Congratulations to the youth of the SDLP who have the gumption and the wherewithal to QUESTION!

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Young people ‘blacklisted’ from housing market

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