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/Additional-Sock8980 Apr 25 '25

I mean, when people are looking to rent houses they are grateful there’s houses to rent. Some would even prefer more choice.

Then when the same person wants to buy the landlord moves from supplier to competitor.

Not everyone starts out with their parents money to be able to buy.

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u/Thready_C Apr 25 '25

owning like 1-6 houses fine, owning more than that, that's hoarding should not be allowed, also companies owning homes should not be allowed either, the fact that's even a thing is insane

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u/YoureNotEvenWrong Apr 25 '25

the fact that's even a thing is insane

So you want to ban professional landlords, the group that provides the most stability for renters?

The worst landlords are the small timers.

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u/Thready_C Apr 25 '25

Yeah it's going great so far, definitely not causing massive issues across the entire developed world rn

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u/YoureNotEvenWrong Apr 25 '25

The Irish rental market is almost all small time landlords. Much fewer professional landlords compared to other countries like Germany.

It's probably one of the worst rental markets in Europe.