New house prices in Donegal 'out of control' – Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Deputy Mac Lochlainn said the Government's failure to deliver affordable homes in the county is "making the crisis worse".

He was responding to the latest Daft.ie house price report which shows that the average price of a new build home in Donegal last year was €289,000 with the latest asking prices for a new semi-detached family home in the county now well over €300,000.

Teachta Mac Lochlainn said: "The Daft.ie report on house prices in Q4 2023 shows that the price of an average home (new and second hand) continues to rise. In Donegal the average price of a home is now almost €220,000, up another 11% in the last year.

“As many of these homes are second hand homes, they will require substantial additional investment by the purchasers so the real cost to families is much higher and much closer to the new home cost.

“Recently the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) estimated that a family in Donegal would have to earn €85,000 to be able to afford a basic new home in Donegal. How many families in Donegal earn that amount of money?”

"Meanwhile the Government's failure to deliver on their embarrassingly low affordable purchase targets is making the crisis worse. In Donegal, there is shockingly no plan at all to build affordable housing for working families or persons.

“Government policy must shift to bringing the price of new homes down.

"They must end policies that push up house prices and they must increase and accelerate the delivery of genuinely affordable homes by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, at prices that working people can genuinely afford."