7 October 2025
Budget 2026 – IPAV Welcomes Housing Measures but Cautions Much Remains to Be Done
Responding to today’s Budget, IPAV, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers, welcomed a number of measures to improve housing supply but cautioned that much remains to be done to achieve the kind of radical change the Government is promising.
Genevieve McGuirk IPAV’s Chief Executive said there are a number of very positive measures in today’s budget, particularly in relation to the VAT reduction on the sale of certain apartments from 13.5% to 9%, the tax reduction on the construction of apartments and the extension of initiatives such as Stamp Duty refunds; retrofitting by landlords and the Living City initiative, the scope of which has been extended to properties built before 1975.
“The intention to accelerate infrastructure is very positive, something IPAV has been encouraging the government to do for some time,” she said.
However, she said implementation of the stated intention by Minister Jack Chambers to “confront, head on, the systems and mindsets that have made delivery so difficult” was critically important.
Ms McGuirk said: “This will be the acid test of the Government’s housing policy.”
She pointed out that in today’s budget there is provision of €200 million to Home Building Finance Ireland to assist SME homebuilders. “The initial €750 million loan scheme, indeed the HBFI itself, was set up specifically for small and medium sized builders/developers.”
She said since it went live in January 2019 the funding went overwhelmingly to the larger operators, many of whom had the capacity to source funding elsewhere, unlike SMEs. “The high interest rates charged by the State under the scheme were unviable for SME builders. The question that remains open is, has the lesson been learned,” she asked. “Unless this funding is genuinely accessible to smaller builders, supply constraints in regional markets will persist,” she warned.
She said the Governments new housing plan is eagerly awaited.
Ends