Rose Conway-Walsh: Urges Ban on Investment Funds Buying Family Homes
Rose Conway-Walsh urged the minister to ban investment funds from buying family homes, arguing that vulture funds are outbidding young people and working families and driving up prices and rents. She called for a prohibition on bulk purchases, citing over 2,000 homes bulk purchased since the higher stamp duty was introduced in 2021 and describing urgent local impacts in Mayo.
Call to ban investment funds
Rose Conway-Walsh told the minister that investment funds should not be permitted to bulk buy family homes, saying "family homes" must be protected and that homes are for living in, not for speculation or stockpiling. She pressed for the minister to use available powers to stop funds buying family homes.
Scale of bulk purchases since 2021
She highlighted that since the higher stamp duty was first introduced in 2021, over 2,000 homes have been bulk purchased and removed from the market, calling it "thievery in plain sight." The speech framed bulk buying by investment funds as reducing housing available to ordinary buyers.
Local consequences in Mayo
Rose Conway-Walsh described real-life impacts across Mayo, including cases of families facing no-vault evictions and reports from one of her offices of 15 notices to quit in a single week. She warned that every home snapped up by a fund is one fewer for nurses, teachers or young couples hoping to start a life together.
Impact on supply, prices and rents
She argued that bulk purchases reduce supply, increase competition and push prices higher, noting house prices are up 47.7% since 2020. The speech linked the activity of vulture funds to soaring house prices and rents that do not reflect local incomes, making rental properties scarce and unaffordable.
Acknowledgements to colleagues
She thanked Deputy Piers Daugherty for bringing the motion and for his work on the issue, and acknowledged Deputy Conor Teemingh during her remarks.
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Minister, the message is very clear here. We need you to ban investment funds from buying family homes. Family homes. There are many things that investment funds can invest in and buy but not family homes and you have the power to change that. Young people and working families are being forced out of the market by vulture funds with unlimited reserves, outbidding them not just of homes but of their futures. My colleagues and I on this benches have been highlighting this scandal for years. Actually I remember doing it when I was in the local authority and I want to thank Deputy Piers Daugherty for bringing this motion forward this evening and for all the work he has done on this area. Since the higher stamp duty was first introduced in 2021 over 2,000 homes have been bulk purchased, hovered up and taken off the market. That is thievery in plain sight, taking these homes from people who desperately need them. In one of my offices alone in the last week there has been 15 notices to quit and that is just in a few days. Investment funds should not be permitted to bulk buy family homes full stop. Homes are for living in, not for speculation, not for stockpiling and not for squeezing profit out of hard working people. Across Mayo I am hearing the real life consequences of allowing vulture funds to outbid ordinary couples. They are bulk buying homes that should be available to young people hoping to start their lives and their families together. Any home snapped up by a vulture fund is one less home for a nurse, for a teacher or for a young couple saving desperately for a deposit. It reduces supply, it increases competition and inevitably drives prices up which are up 47.7% since 2020. Young people are being priced out of their own communities and the result is soaring house prices and extortionate rents that are in no way a reflection of the local incomes. I know families facing no-vault evictions, as I said. It is happening everywhere across Mayo. Rental properties are scarce and unaffordable. Thank you, Deputy Conor Teemingh.
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