Nessa Winston

Rising Second Home Numbers in Rural Ireland: Distribution, Drivers and Implications

This article highlights a marked growth in the number of second homes in Ireland since the mid-1990s, which is concentrated in the rural and coastal parts of the peripheral Border, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest and West regions, together with parallel growth in the number of long-term vacant dwellings in these regions. These phenomena are linked to economic and population growth, the “laissez faire” nature of land use planning in rural Ireland, the generous fiscal treatment of housing, as well as tax incentives to encourage house building in economically marginal areas. The social and economic impacts of these dwelling on individual localities vary, depending on their number, usage patterns and the nature of the local economy and housing market. However, their environmental consequences are largely negative as is their impact on the national economy and on the economies of those regions where vacant dwellings are concentrated. Thus, our research questions the value of housing-led rural development, as they can result in excessive output of vacant and second homes and highlights the importance of adequately resourcing planning authorities if the worst excesses of rural housing overdevelopment are to be avoided.

Second-Home Owners: Escaping, Investing or Retiring?

Abstract This article employs the 2006 EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions to examine the characteristics of second-home owners in the Republic of Ireland. Its purpose is to explore the relevance to the Irish case of the three key demand-side drivers of second-home ownership which are most prominent in this literature. These are: compensation – the view that households purchase second homes in order to compensate for deficiencies in their primary residence; life cycle – which links second-home ownership to retirement or future retirement plans; and affluence – which links second home purchase to wealth, the availability of mortgage credit and investment concerns. It finds that the recent growth in second-home ownership has been driven primarily by affluence and that compensation and lifestyle are less relevant drivers in the Irish case.

Urban Regeneration for Sustainable Development: The Role of Sustainable Housing?

This article examines the extent to which a number of urban regeneration approaches involve sustainable housing. Specifically, it assesses the potential of eco-neighbourhoods, urban villages and new urbanism to contribute to sustainable regeneration. The article highlights the advantages and disadvantages of each approach from a sustainable housing perspective and, in particular, evaluates the extent to which the environmental and social aspects are addressed in each. It concludes that both aspects are frequently neglected in regeneration programmes and that this is likely to result in unsustainable urban renewal in many cities.

From Boom to Bust? An Assessment of the Impact of Sustainable Development Policies on Housing in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract In many countries, moves towards sustainable development have been driven by a range of international agreements and by EU directives. This paper assesses the impact of international policy in this area on Irish housing policy and practice. To a large extent, Irish housing development has consisted of suburban sprawl on greenfield sites, low-density housing and one-off housing in rural areas. There is strong dependence on the car and very limited public transport. These unsustainable housing trends was exacerbated in recent years when the demand for housing increased significantly. The main response to this demand has been a substantial rise in the construction of housing. The paper examines the conceptualization and operationalization of sustainable housing in Irish policy and reveals that international developments have had some impact on policy but a very limited effect in practice.

Housing wealth, debt and stress before, during and after the Celtic Tiger

Compared to many other western European countries the Republic of Ireland is distinguished by historically high rates of home ownership. In 1971 60.7 per cent of Irish households were home owners compared to 50 and 35 per cent of their counterparts in Britain and Sweden respectively (Kemeny, 1981). In addition to socioeconomic factors such as the predominately rural and dispersed population distribution, these levels of home ownership rates were driven by extensive government support. Direct government supports for first time home buyers covered approximately 15 per cent of the costs of an average suburban home in the late 1970s and during this decade, government provided half of all mortgage loans, as the commercial mortgage market was underdeveloped (O’Connell 2005; Fahey, et al, 2004). Furthermore, since the 1930s social housing tenants have enjoyed the ‘right to buy’ their dwellings, at a substantial discount from the market value and, uniquely in western Europe, no ongoing taxes are levied on owner occupied homes (O’Connell and Fahey, 1999). These supports appear particularly generous in view of the underperformance of the Irish economy which, apart from a brief period in the 1960s/ early 1970s, declined or stagnated for much of the 20th Century. As a result, population growth followed a similar pattern, as despite a high birth rate, emigration was also high, particularly in the 1950s and 1980s (Kennedy, et al, 1998).

Transforming Irish Home Ownership through Credit Deregulation, Boom and Crunch

Abstract Over the last decade the Republic of Ireland experienced an unprecedented economic boom, which contributed to equally dramatic demographic and housing market booms. Using data from the European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions and other relevant sources, this article examines the drivers of this housing market boom and its implications for the distribution of housing wealth, debt and stress among home owners by age, income and region. The article suggests that during the Celtic Tiger period Irelands traditionally distinctive housing policy and distribution of housing assets were both transformed and began converging with the norm in other developed Anglophone countries. Our analysis of this convergence process suggests that it was characterised by four developments: the rolling back of direct and indirect government supports for home buyers and the liberalization of mortgage markets; the globalisation of housing finance markets, of their regulation and of arrangements for the supply of mortgages; the development of distinctive housing markets in wealthy, high growth or ‘escalator’ regions and cities that operate separately from the wider national norm; and the advent of inter-generational, and, to a lesser extent, class and regional inequalities in access to home ownership and housing wealth.

Sustainable Communities? A Comparative Perspective on Urban Housing in the European Union

Abstract This paper examines the sustainability of urban housing in the European Union. It outlines a number of key criteria for assessing the sustainability of urban housing including mixed-use developments, higher residential densities, high-quality dwellings and neighbourhoods, affordability and food production. Utilizing the 2007 tranche of the European Quality of Life Survey, it finds significant variations between countries in the sustainability of urban housing and communities and highlights the leaders and laggards in this regard. The relative success of urban areas in Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Finland deserves some additional research, although there is scope for considerable improvement even in these “leader” countries. The paper highlights significant problems with housing and communities in some urban locations which must significantly retract from (a) the quality of life of residents in these locations and (b) the sustainability of their cities.

Second Homes within Irish Housing Booms and Busts: North-South Comparisons, Contrasts, and Debates

We examine the expansion of second home ownership in the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland—the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The phenomenon has emerged more recently here than in many other countries. While the growth of second homes in Ireland can be explained by many of the factors which have contributed to rising second home ownership internationally, local factors distinguish the two jurisdictions both from each other and from other cases. We compare and contrast the situation in the two jurisdictions, while also locating them in an international context. We assess the impact of second homes on local communities, housing markets, and the environment in Ireland and highlight the key public policy issues arising in each jurisdiction.

Housing, Equality and Inequality

The Introduction to this volume identifies high levels of home ownership as one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Irish housing system in comparison with other EU member states. These home ownership levels are linked to longstanding and numerous state subsidies for home buyers, as outlined by O’Connell in Chapter 2. In the absence of similar incentives in the other housing tenures, owner occupation became the tenure of choice. A persistent theme in the housing literature is that inequalities are exacerbated when market provision is dominant and that this pattern of inequality is heightened during a property boom with rapid house price growth relative to the increase in the average industrial wage (Lee et al, 1995; Forrest and Murie (eds), 1995; Thorns, 1989). In the Irish context, house price inflation since the mid-1990s has effected a silent redistribution of wealth in favour of home owners and owners of development land at the expense of those trying to enter the housing market. In these circumstances, the highly subsidised home owing majority became increasingly privileged compared with people in other tenures. The result is a situation where there are stark inequalities in the Irish housing system. The experiences and outcomes for landowners, financiers, estate agents, landlords and speculators are dramatically different from those outside of this circle, including: the increasing number of homeless people; private tenants paying escalating rents; those on low incomes; those on growing waiting lists for social housing, and others in housing need. Furthermore, residualisation in the local authority sector is such that its tenants are increasingly characterised by low incomes and multiple deprivation compared with tenants in other sectors and owner occupiers. Interventions by governments over many decades are a key cause of inequalities in the Irish housing system and current housing policy continues to sustain them. For example, schemes such as the Seaside Resorts Scheme facilitate the acquisition of second homes by wealthier people during a period

Multifamily housing and resident life satisfaction in Europe: an exploratory analysis

Abstract Much of the literature on sustainable communities and compact cities calls for higher density housing including multifamily dwellings. Some researchers suggest problems with such dwellings. However, rigorous comparative research on this topic has not been conducted to date. This paper draws on a high quality, comparative data-set, the European Social Survey, to analyse (a) the quality of multifamily dwellings in European urban areas, (b) the characteristics of residents, (c) their life satisfaction compared with those living in detached housing and (d) the relative importance of built form in explaining life satisfaction. One of the main findings from the multivariate analyses is that residing in multifamily housing is not a statistically significant predictor of life satisfaction when you control for standard predictors of life satisfaction and housing and neighbourhood quality. Overall, the findings provide support for both place-based and people-based responses to urban regeneration. Both physical and social regeneration are required, addressing the education/training needs of residents and economic development strategies.