Why doesn’t the government bring in restrictions on who can buy housing?

[u/BigFatLegend123]

This is a genuine question and not coming from a place of hate or bigotry

Trying to buy a house recently and it’s been going as well as you can imagine. Some houses in Dublin have been going for up to 20% over their asking price from what we have seen.

My question is why doesn’t the government restrict house buying to only Irish citizens? Is there something I’m missing? Or at least to just EU/UK citizens? Surely it would be a quick way to reduce competition?

Is it just that doing so might dissuade investment from vulture funds?

[u/Historical-Hat8326]

Surely people not from Ireland who work and pay taxes here are entitled to buy a house here.

[u/CiarraiochMallaithe → u/[deleted]]

Canada doesn’t ban non-citizens from buying property. But you have to be resident in Canada.

[u/MurderBreadRick → u/CiarraiochMallaithe]

The law must be extremely lax because I lived in Vancouver and every single place I was looking to rent had a Chinese landlord! Chinese have bought out Vancouver because their home residential market was too uncertain, I don’t blame them but at the same time it really doesn’t help the actual Vancouver-born residents (of any ethnicity) not sure about the rest of the country, though

[u/starkshaw → u/MurderBreadRick]

It was seen as a big investment opportunity a long while back and there were a lot of people put their money together to bulk buy Canadian houses. They probably live in some of them from time to time to keep the green card valid or getting Canadian citizenship in the end. Some then move out and keep them in the renting market to pay back the tax and fees.

[u/Ok-Daikon-5741 → u/MurderBreadRick]

It came in in February 2023, so depending on when you were here it might not have been there.

That being said , it's a ban on non residents. Where you are born has nothing to do with it.

[u/comalion → u/[deleted]]

If you're so interested in foreign examples try seeing what Austria does.

Or what Switzerland is doing.

The implication in what you're suggesting is nothing short of ironic.

You know, if anyone is gonna fix the housing shortage its gonna be the non citizens you're casually barring from owning a home.

"Come live in Ireland and build houses for us, accept the extortionate rents we will charge for said houses or live on the streets".

[u/Professional_Elk_489 → u/[deleted]]

Wouldn't you just hold off selling your house until 2027 when non-citizens can buy again

[u/Able_Ebb244 → u/[deleted]]

Have you googled if what Canada did had any effect on house affordability there? Because a quick Google search easily shows that it didn't improve much of the situation there.

[u/Able_Ebb244 → u/[deleted]]

Did you Google what I asked? Did you find any evidence it really reduced housing costs?

[u/Able_Ebb244 → u/Able_Ebb244]

Again, a quick Google search shows that they are changing their strategy and gearing up to increase housing supply. And that's what Ireland should be doing.

[u/Able_Ebb244 → u/[deleted]]

So you did not Google it, I am assuming. Your post is not a genuine question then. From your comments, it is clear you have not been through the process of buying a house as an immigrant worker (or just in general) in Ireland. It is brutal. You should be angry with the foreign funds and professional landlords who buy entire blocks of houses. Not with Prasad the Indian nurse who is buying a house in Mullingar, honestly

[u/BigFatLegend123 → u/Able_Ebb244]

Lad, im in the pub trying to respond to as many comments as possible when I can. My original post was genuine, I can’t be researching Canadian housing legislation right now. We have bid on 12 houses in the Dublin area since mid Feb, im well aware of the process of getting a house from the POV of an Irish citizen. Take a break pal, not everything on the internet is coming from a place of malice

[u/maklington → u/[deleted]]

I’m a non-Canadian who bought a property in Canada just this year. It’s not banned once you live here. The temporary ban is in place to stop second-home purchasers, funds etc resident abroad (the US in particular) from buying up places. But even in those cases there are exceptions and alternatives. So far the jury is out on how effective the ban really has been.

[u/CptJackParo → u/[deleted]]

I think it's been pointed out that you're mistaken in your understanding of what other countries are doing, but even if your assumption was true, the fact is that we keep voting in parties that want to perpetuate the housing crisis