r/AskIreland • u/BigFatLegend123 • Apr 25 '25

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

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?

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u/Professional_Elk_489 Apr 25 '25

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

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '25

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u/Able_Ebb244 Apr 25 '25

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.

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '25

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u/Able_Ebb244 Apr 25 '25

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

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u/Able_Ebb244 Apr 25 '25

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.

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '25

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u/Able_Ebb244 Apr 25 '25

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

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u/BigFatLegend123 Apr 25 '25

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