Planning permission is needed for each and every holiday home in Ireland. In 2006, 22,774 planning permission applications were approved for 93,419 dwellings. In 2005, 25,334 were received and approved for 80,957 dwellings. In order for holiday homes to be the cause of the surplus, each and every one of these planning permissions must have been for a holiday home - in other words, every single piece of household construction approved under planning permission must have been a holiday home in order for the figures to have an impact on the surplus. Every single household built in Ireland must have been a holiday home!

And that is a nuts argument.

There is a shortage of houses that people can afford to buy in Dublin - that’s why there’s been a slowdown in the mortgage market.

From the Daft.ie annual report:
“The core issue here is affordability. Basic estimates suggest that the median per capita disposable income in the country today stands at around €31,300 per annum. Factoring in the savings rates and using a 4.5:1 ratio of disposable income to loan value, a median household entering the market today can afford a mortgage of between €380,000 and €400,000. The stamp duty, legal fees and costs of moving the household and upgrading properties cut roughly 15 percent from the affordability threshold.
This is a far cry from the latest asking prices – according to Daft’s statistics, the average family dwelling in Dublin city ranges from €485,000 to €518,000 for a three bed and from €671,000 to €734,000 for a four bed property.”
The slowdown in the market happened when asking prices in Dublin broke the €400,000 mark - and not because of bloody stamp duty or little surplus.
Quite simply, demand for houses at over €400,000 is what has dropped off. So. What you’re seeing now is houses empty for six months or more as sellers can’t find buyers for their prices.