Jump in house prices "worrying" - SF senator

A Cavan senator says the latest house prices in the county, showing an 18% jump, is a 'worrying statistic'.

Sinn Féin's Kathryn Reilly was responding to figures from property website daft.ie, which showed that the average house price in Cavan rose by 18 per cent last year.

'Even though house prices are coming from a low base, an 18% jump in house prices in Cavan is quite a worrying statistic,' said the General Election candidate from Ballyjamesduff. 'The rapid rise in house prices will only serve to price people out of the market and in conjunction with the sharp increase in rental prices only serves to drive more people into homelessness.

“Last year, daft.ie issued figures around the increase in the cost of renting which showed that rents rose faster in 2015 than at any time since the boom. In Cavan alone that increase was 10 per cent.

'With property and rental costs increasing at an alarming rate in Cavan and across the county, there is a serious possibility that even more people will become frozen out of the housing market and as a result of the government’s complete lack of social housing builds and massive social housing waiting lists, many more people are at a serious risk of ending up homeless.

'Two main issues which Sinn Féin would address in government are increasing the number of social housing builds and providing rent certainty for those in the rental market. Such measures, along with the others outlined in our housing policy, would serve to decrease homelessness and create a more sustainable housing market.

'Even on the eve of a general election this government does not have a solution to the worsening housing crisis in Ireland. The mistakes of the past are being repeated across the state, and the only way for these mistakes to be avoided is for the people of Ireland to elect a Sinn Féin led government,' she said.