Curbing price volatility in the housing market is an ongoing challenge for governments. Clearly, in order to stabilise house prices, supply and demand must be brought into equilibrium. The difficulties inherent in achieving this goal are illustrated by Ireland’s economic travails over the past decade. During the heady days of the ‘Celtic Tiger’, property developers embarked on a building frenzy, their expansionary drive fuelled by three factors: the availability of almost limitless credit, the flow of cheap labour from Eastern Europe and an apparently buoyant property market. However, too many of these building schemes were not brought to fruition. The […]
