Sinn Féin general election candidate and councillor Conor D. McGuinness has said that the latest CSO figures showing a house price rise of 9.6% demonstrates the urgent need for Sinn Féin’s affordable housing plan to be implemented in Waterford and across the state.
McGuinness said:
“The latest CSO property price index shows house prices continuing to spiral out of control, and shows that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have utterly failed to have an impact over the past 13 years.
“The most recent CSO release shows that house prices state wide had increase by 9.6% over the previous 12 months.
“Significantly, the rate of increase for second hand homes was higher than new homes. This is being driven by buyers, unable to afford new homes, being pushed into the second-hand market, increasingly in locations away from where they work and currently live. We see this across Co. Waterford where options for people from Dungarvan and the West of the County are very limited.
“These latest price hikes show the need for Sinn Féin’s affordable housing plan to be implemented. Our housing spokesperson Eoin O’Broin has set out how through increased state investment in Local Authorities and
Approved Housing Bodies we could deliver 50,000 affordable homes for working people, 25,000 of which would be for sale at prices from €250,000.
“We have also set out a better way to activate the private residential development sector to deliver more good quality homes for people to buy, including first time buyers, at lower prices.
“Sinn Féin is the only party that has published a five-year plan up to 2029 which puts genuinely affordable homes at its heart. A plan that will bring home ownership back into reach of working people.
“Waterford needs a government focused on action and solutions – not another Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil administration that offers nothing but crocodile tears and empty announcements.”
Conor D. McGuinness TD 