Tax Reform Could Fix the Housing Crisis [Video]

The SCSI’s Edward McAuley believes tweaking the tax system could deliver much-needed results on accommodation, writes Paul O’Donoghue

The solution to Ireland’s housing woes is often presented as simplistic — build more houses and prices should eventually level off.

Precisely how the state can ramp up the delivery of new homes is more complicated.

Edward McAuley, director of practice and policy at the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), thinks fiddling with the country’s tax system could offer the way forward.

After graduating from Technological University Dublin with a degree in Property Economics in 2005, McAuley worked as a valuation surveyor before joining the SCSI in 2012.

With over two decades in the sector, he is convinced that taxes levied on building homes are too high to make the maths work.

“The average ‘bricks and mortar’ cost of building a three-bedroom semi-detached home is around €230,000,” he told BusinessPlus.ie.

“[But] this is just 50% …