2026-02-10

158. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the total number of homes and total value of homes that have been bulk purchased each year, and subject to the higher rate of stamp duty, since the higher rate was introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10450/26]

This Government, Fine Gael in particular, has a long history of welcoming in the vulture funds to snap up Irish homes. Only because of rightful public anger at vulture funds bulk-purchasing homes a number of years ago under the nose of ordinary workers and families have we seen any pressure put on, and action by, the Government. The Minister committed that this practice would end. Has it ended or is it still going on? If it is still going on, how many family homes were bulk-purchased by vulture funds last year and in previous years?

I thank the Deputy for the question. As he will be aware, the standard rates of stamp duty currently applying on the acquisition of residential property are 1% on values up to €1 million, 2% on values exceeding €1 million and 6% on any balance above €1.5 million. However, in May 2021, a higher stamp duty rate was introduced with the aim of disincentivising investment funds from buying up large numbers of completed houses, usually with the intention of placing them on the rental market. The rate that initially applied was 10% but this was subsequently increased to 15% in budget 2025. The higher stamp duty rate is charged on the acquisition of individual houses, where a person acquires at least ten such properties during any 12-month period. Complementing the higher stamp duty since 2021 are section 28 guidelines for planning authorities, which aim to prevent multiple units being sold to single buyers. Revenue has provided me with the following provisional data regarding the number of residential properties subject to the higher rate and the total approximate value of those homes. In 2021, 189 properties were subject to the higher rate, with a value of €47.9 million. In 2022, 454 properties were subject to the higher rate, with a total of €177.5 million. In 2023, 675 properties were subject to the higher rate, with a total value of €266.1 million. In 2024, that fell to 396 properties, with a value of €156 million. In 2025, that reduced to 293 properties, with a total value of around €88.3 million. The provisional data, therefore, indicate that the combination of the two measures is now having the desired effect, with the number of house acquisitions subject to the higher stamp duty rate falling each between 2022 and 2025, inclusive. It is also important to state something that is not stated, namely, that the Central Statistics Office, CSO, data now show that institutional buyers are also net sellers of homes. In 2024, they sold more houses than they bought. We will continue to monitor these trends to continue to ensure the trend is downward, as it has been for the past three years, and to ensure these measures are having the desired impact. I will keep this under review on an annual basis.

Under review.

That is what we do in the budget.

The Minister promised us he was going to end this practice. He has just told the House that nearly 300 family homes were bought up by vulture funds last year, and he is going to keep it "under review". Under his watch, the Government is sitting by and allowing vulture funds to buy up family homes, a practice he promised over and over again that he would end. A total of 293 homes that should have been bought by ordinary workers and families last year were snapped up by corporate landlords and vulture funds. What happened to the Minister claiming he was going to stop all of this? When he was Taoiseach, he wrote to the finance Minister saying not enough was being done to stop the bulk-purchasing of homes. He argued that bulk-purchasing of homes needed for first-time buyers could not be tolerated. It appears now that he has tolerated 293 of them being bulk-purchased last year. The measures are not enough. The measures were in place all of last year. What is the Minister going to do, or is this, again, just something Simon says? I would ban vulture funds bulk-purchasing homes. It should be stopped. It is immoral. There is a crisis that the Government parties have created and the Minister is now facilitating vulture funds to snap up hundreds of homes every single year, and we are supposed to have cold comfort that the trends are going down.

Here is what we actually did. The Governments I have been part of, first, introduced a higher rate of stamp duty. Second, the Government I led when I was Taoiseach and wrote that letter increased that rate of stamp duty from 10% to 15%. Each year, as a result of taking those measures, the number of homes being acquired has fallen. It fell in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and it is expected to fall in 2026. What I am now telling the House, based on CSO data, not my view of the world, is that we are now seeing these institutional buyers becoming net sellers of homes. They are now selling more homes in Ireland than they are buying. The policy effects, coupled with the planning guidelines, are having an impact. Of course, a Minister for Finance will say they will keep these issues under review because, as the Deputy knows, we review all of these measures each year in the annual budget. We moved from 10% to 15%. I think Deputy Doherty would have advocated for moving to a higher rate than the 10%. That was required and since we made that move, we have seen the positive impact, and we will continue to monitor this very closely. The broader issue in relation to housing, housing supply and this Government's commitment is something I will have to debate when I have more time on the clock.

The stamp duty measure was introduced back in 2021. Does the Minister know that vulture funds purchased more homes last year than they did in 2021? He said the trend is going down every year. That is not true; the figure actually increased in 2022. The 293 homes purchased are homes that people are queuing for and want to have as their family home, their forever home, and vulture funds are buying them up because they have unlimited means. The Minister can splice and dice this any way he likes. He promised he was going to end this practice, which can be ended. Stop tinkering about the edges, and ban it. Stop imposing taxation on vulture funds because they have unlimited means. Does the Minister know why? It is because he provided them with a sweetheart deal. They do not pay any tax on rental income, the €3,000 they rent out the properties for. This is why they can pay the Government's tax. We cannot get away from the fact that hundreds of properties that should be available to families to start off their own homes are being snapped up by vulture funds. Ban the practice. Stop tinkering around the edges. I hear the Tánaiste is not even considering any other policy bar reviews. The facts speak for themselves.

The policy every Minister for Finance undertakes is to review all taxation measures in the context of a budget. That is what we will do this year, as we do each year. We have already shown that we have a willingness to act and to take further policy measures to make sure the intervention was having more of the required effect. The Deputy calls them "vulture funds" because that is a loaded term. We need private investment in the housing market. That is not just my view; it is the view of the Housing Commission. We need people to come into this country and invest because we also need rental properties in this country. Houses are required for the rental market. As of the last census, there were 330,000 units in the private rental sector, of which 62% were outside Dublin. We need to make sure we also have a rental supply. I have talked and the Governments I have been in – this Government and the last Government – have talked about using the taxation system to disincentivise the practice and to collect more revenue for the State where the practice was carried out. We have never suggested that there is not a role for private investment in relation to housing supply. That might be a point on which we differ but it is a point which the Housing Commission also recognises.