Operation Digout - Government Rescues the Builders

I know stamp duty still exists but did it not used to be lower for a first time buyer buying a newly built house than a first time buyer buying a second hand house?

johnfás wrote:

Why do people want to buy newer homes, apart from obvious stamp duty issues which I think existed in the past. Alot of newer housing developments are very poorly built in comparison to their older counterparts.

Building regulations outside Dublin mean that a new home is now much more sustainable in energy terms. In Dublin FF continued to allow disastrous hollow block construction more or less up to now - construction industry lobby of course.

All these grants primarily were to benefit the construction industry, although they were also I'm sure vote winners from the general house buying public. The whole budget imo has been skewed to benefit the construction industry. I can't believe that Gov still hasn't undertaken a value - for - money / prioritisation review of the NDP. Up to a considerable amount, the damage that cuts do is proportionate to the amount of care and prioritisation that goes into making them. There are buildings that government has built for quite basic functions that are overspecified and overdesigned to an insane extent. These projects should be stopped and redesigned.

Was that the construction industry lobby pr the Irish cement industry lobby. I believe that the cement lobby is one of the most powerful lobbies in the country.

Zhou_Enlai wrote:

Was that the construction industry lobby pr the Irish cement industry lobby. I believe that the cement lobby is one of the most powerful lobbies in the country.

The hollow block would mainly benefit the builder, as it is quicker to build - probably less cement too.

On cement - you are dead on - isn't CRH the biggest single donor to FF over the years?

Two pieces in the Irish Times today related to building, accomodation - the first statistic on the rented accomodation is a shame and it would be worth it if the government threw some resources into cleaning that sector up - some of the accomodation is truly dire with regards to size of rooms, facilities and heating etc.

With some will and intention we could have more of the districts in the second one. Time for more Ballymun-type deconstruction/reconstruction projects. There's an awful lot could be done with 1.65 'billen'.

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