How Ireland & Scotland are ruining their housing markets 

Rent control doesn't work when the supply side is also ignored. If the state mass produces housing, bans second homes and short term leases (like Singapore, some of the lowest cost housing in the developed world) this policy works. Lazy politicians only want to implement the popular & cheap part of the policy set, ignoring that it is part of a wholistic set of policies.

The problem in Ireland isn't rent control. It's lack of supply. There's been as many new homes built in the past decade as there was built in 2007 alone. There's been no incentive from government to allow an increase in supply, and nothing done to reduce the instances of people opposing every new development. The arrival of vulture funds buying up what new developments there is and keeping rent artificially high doesn't help in any way.

I saw a comment I can't find mention Vienna as a clear counterexample, and discussing any salient differences would be nice. It's also odd not to acknowledge that this housing supply problem seems to be widespread across many different cities with different renting policies. Many cities don't have these controls but do have even worse homelessness crises as well as many more unrentable luxury apartments.

Disappointed with this limited analysis. The housing market was destroyed BEFORE rent controls. That's why they introduced the controls to begin with. Because they don't want to actually address the problems that made rents too high in the first place. Targeting rent control as the issue suggets an ideological or self interested short sightedness.

Each local council should have both a planning and building goal (in line with shortage / population growth), and a lien on their funding if they don't achieve it. Empty / second homes should have to pay more tax (which is ring fenced for building more social housing).

Don't forget that a lot of our politicians in Ireland are landlords. Also lots of landlords exited the market due to high taxes and not much incentive. The government actively deincentivises new house builds with such nonsense as a recent 10% tax on concrete products.

Supply of housing should NEVER be up to the market. We don't have our fire brigade on a for profit model for a damn good reason. Why should shelter, a basic human right, be the same? Edit: grammer

This video is just info from Wikipedia page on 'rent regulation', but with all the positive counter-arguments FOR rent control removed. It's not just propaganda, it's lazy propaganda.

“Popular bad ideas tend to stick around” - like leaving the supply side to the private sector? rent controls are a response to a failed policy. A bad idea implemented to try and counter a failed neo liberal ideology

Rent controls weren't introduced as a solution to the housing crisis, they were introduced to prevent a surge in evictions due to runaway rental prices. And even then this move was only taken primarily because of pressure from the opposition parties and popular demand which forced the government to do it. In Dublin and the other major cities, most people are paying upwards of 50% of their disposable income on rent. There are little to no tenant rights - a renter may be a model tenant and still be evicted at a whim by their landlord, typically for the concocted excuse that they need the property for family... but this is generally a lie, and there is, in effect, no regulation or means to confirm this. Most tenants live in fear of upsetting their landlord and dread their yearly contract renewal (1 year is almost universally the maximum a tenant can obtain). Homeless numbers in ireland have surged since 2008, with nearly 14,000 people living in emergency accomodation. That number is comparable with other similarily sized european countries, like Denmark, but unlike Denmark it doesn't include "casual" homelessness - i.e. people who aren't on the streets but couch surf or are unable to move out of their parent's/family home. So in reality, that number is far higher. Rent controls were forced on this government because they refuse to intervene in the housing market and build social housing directly. This isn't a complicated problem. As others here have said, the problem is supply. Private developers are simply not building houses, and have switched from build-to-sell to build-to-rent. We're now at the stage where foreign investment firms are given an selection of, if not all of, the following and more "enticements": tax-free/charitable status, being contracted by the gov/local authorities to build developments (i.e. being paid full cost) after which they have to sell a small percentage back to the government for sale at "affordable prices (approx €300,000) whilst they get to sell the rest at full market prices (anywhere from €500,000 to €1,000,000), vulture funds are being given first choice to buy up huge chunks of new developments to rent without question for 25 years at which point the state will be contractually required to buy them... You really wouldn't believe the extent to which this government has gone to encourage developers and investment funds to make huge profits off our backs. And still the crisis gets worse. This crisis is as a result of fanatical devotion to neoliberal economics and a total refusal of the state to do anything itself except pay private companies rediculously above cost prices to build houses we should be building ourselves. The private housing market has clearly and unequivocally failed to provide for the needs of the majority of people in the nation. The answer is mindnumbingly obvious: the state needs to build housing. If a private market can exist on top of this (without huge state subsidies), fine. More power to them. But we need public housing.

Both the Irish and Scottish governments are bent on legalising perversions rather than helping their own populations. Rent controls lead to slums.

It’s such a complex but yet simple concept The Government need to act as a developer of public land, why are they so unwilling to.

I'm glad to have seen other people pointing these issues out in the comments, but as an economics and politics student who has discussed these issues in my course I have a number of problems with this analysis of rent controls. I'm glad that an bord pleanala and issues with planning permission etc were brought up in this video, but there is nothing about rent controls which is inherently 'bad'. This entire critique of rent controls is predicated on a neoliberal private sector 'market' supply of housing. These 'warning signals' and supply effects of freezing rents do not have such a drastic impact when a significant portion of the housing supply is public. Also the proposed solution of the localisation of government is fine (I suppose) if we plan to indefinitely keep a housing market with a neoliberal housing supply, but what would actually act as an effective solution would be a large scale public supply of housing, and taking the housing supply 'power' away from individual landlords and into a body which does not treat rental housing as a commodity / income. A brief sidenote of "affordable social housing" is not enough. Also as a side note, what the IMF says is not to be taken as gospel. It has historically had a number of questionable policies. As a second side note I usually find your videos to be very well thought out and I enjoy them very much. Keep it up!

Rent prices are already ludicrously high. If there's so much money (totaling like half of income in some places) why isn't that enought already to get more houses built. It's clearly not rent caps that decrease supply.

Stop non Irish citizens from buying any properties & stop vulture funds buying up properties as investments! Build tonnes more social housing for Irish citizens.

An Bord Planeala are 90% of the problem behind the lack of housing supply, not rent controls. Ireland already has very high rents as a % of the average persons income, there is no need to dangle the prospect of further juicy rent increases in order to attract developers.

The Scottish rent cap is being replaced by a system to allow rent increases to market value. Scotland has easily the best record of building affordable housing in the UK but demand still outstrips supply.

The market can't be left alone either though, private companies must increase their value so they will squeeze until it bursts - and only those with enough ability get out of those situations intact, and that isnt going to be renters or single home owners. There clearly needs to be a deeper and longer term solution. I dont know who's had no rent increase in 5 years + that's wild - almost everyone i know who's rented over the last 15 years had had probably half a dozen or more increases.

Man this channel is so good

Why do irish people who have a home, oppose any new homes being built near them? 😢

Absolutely excellent video I’m a tenant and I have been saying this for ages

I live in a rent pressure zone in Cork that's not meant to exceed a 2% rent increase a year. RPZs are not common in Ireland but they exist - so the idea that they can be entirely responsible for anything is absurd. In the last 2 years a single room in the house has gone from 650 to 780 euros. This is because it's NOT ENFORCED. He is not registered with the RTB. I have lived in RTB registered houses with terrible conditions and illegal rents too. 1/5 TDs are landlords - does this not seem like part of the problem to you? I mean the chart at the very start of your video invalidated any upcoming political opinions but come on man. How can you live in Ireland and say rent control is the problem when you go on Daft and see 40 ads for rooms in Cork but 1400 on Air BnB? You are operating off of extremely neoliberal assumptions that housing is, should be, and always will be a commodity. You act like the demand and supply curve for it works like the price of a fucking chocolate bar. People don't simply decide against getting a room because it's gotten a bit pricey. Cop on and live in the real world.

Yet there are no rent controls in any English cities and their rental markets are in a far worse position that Scottish cities? The rent control was an imperfect solution to an existing problem not the cause of the problem.

NOOOOOOO YOU NEED TO LET THE MARKET DO WHATEVER IT WANTS YOU SEE, YOU CAN'T INTERVENE IN THE PRECIOUS BEAUTIFUL PERFECT MARKET, NOOOOO.

An analysis of the effectiveness of rent control in a society where real estate is an investment asset is disingeniously engaging with the totality that is the housing problem. A sufficient stock of social housing allows the 1% to play monopoly without worrying about revolts. The decimated current social housing supply means that the free-market supply demand fantasy reads as a dystopian sci-fi novel. The economy-101 crowd that assumes that an increase in price will always lead to an increase in production is wilfully ignoring the reality of modern real estate dynamics. The prices have never been higher and there's never been less building of new housing. If the the tightening of supply leads to more profit than the building of new houses why would the wealthy investor risk new construction? Any focus of the housing crisis discourse on rent control has a clear radical free market agenda and should not be taken seriously by anyone who cares about the actual victims of the current situation: poor people who can't afford to buy.

The only reason im not homeless right now is rent control, I was luckier than most and found somewhere affordable due to rpz in this housing crisis. My upstairs neighbour has just been "renovicted" and the landlord has bypassed the RPZ by putting down new carpets and calling it a renovation. They also removed the dining/sitting room and jammed 2 single beds into it where they do not fit, turning 2 bed 1 bath that provided a normal standard of living (in other countries) into a "3" bedroom (4 single beds in shared rooms and one queen bed). Now 5 people will pay triple the previous rent and eat dinner in their cramped bedrooms for the privilege. The green is sickening.

I live in Ontario Canada. I was fortunate enough to go from paying 1980.00 a month for a small one bedroom basement apartment to a rent controlled junior Bachelor ( a room the size of a standard principal bedroom in a single family home.} It contains 2 small closets, a kitchenette, bathroom and bed/living room for 1200.00 I am a single senior lady on 600.00 a month for pension. I am beyond grateful for this lovely little place. I am supplementing my income with my savings, so I am happy to have a few more years of life with a roof over my head. We need more affordable housing. It is a human right not a privilege. Young people are being denied what we all took for granted when we were young. It is a worldwide disgrace that so many people are not being adequately and affordably housed. I am ashamed of my government for not fixing this issue. It is within their power to do so. I hope they come to their senses in Ireland, Scotland, Canada and anywhere else where this problem exists. I feel so sorry for those people in this struggle.

A correction on your video - in Ireland, the cap on rent increases is no longer 4% annually. It was first changed to match the rate of inflation. Then, when inflation almost immediately went out of control, it was changed to "rate of inflation capped at 2%". So it is effectively 2% at current moment.

Nationalise fundamental human rights. Nationalise housing, healthcare & transport. Nationalise water, food, energy & internet. Nationalisation is the only solution.

Just control the percentage at which the landlord can raise their rents in alignment with inflation

Lots of angry people in the comments trying to defend the indefensible with their fingers in their ears. The fact of the matter is that there is only one way to keep rent and home prices under control; build more housing. That's it. That is the only way. Rather than trying to control the rent of already existing properties, the correct thing to do is advocate for an increase in supply. This wouldn't even be so much of an issue if it wasn't for rampant NIMBYism...everyone loves the idea of more housing in principle, but suddenly when it's time to build in their area (potentially negatively impacting their home values) they change their tune. Which is a shame. Can't count the number of times a housing project has been killed in the cradle by a gaggle of homeowners who inexplicably seem to find their "community spirit" whenever affordable housing is proposed.

As a nearly 70 year old man who owns properties in both islands. One rented out for last 8 years to one family at a very low rent. Other property for my family. From my perspective about 90% of the problem is immigration from beyond Europe into the UK and Ireland. Liberals are amazingly good at avoiding this when discussing housing. Basically we have had a non-military invasion of foreigners to our lands. This video fits into this category. This is not a stable situation and when the young people of the UK and Ireland discover this they will be forced to change their politics. All this talk of rent controls is just pussy-footing around the main issue. It is a question of changing demographics being forced on the native populations by globalists. That is one reason why the UK voted Brexit.

Moved to dublin in 2016 from west of ireland. There were massive queues to view a property then - pre rent controls, viewed 12 places, got offered 1, and rent was expensive even at that. Dublin has a severe lack of housing due to issues originally stemming from the crisis - commercial landlords buying up vast amount of existing supply, causing empty land to be super expensive, making it unaffordable for gov/developers to buy land/build affordable homes See the flood of new homeless every year, rent controls was a measure to limit this flood. If you can solve the issue of commercial landlords owning too much of the housing stock - make a video on that, this video is ignorant neoliberal claptrap

Argentina had a law to regulate and control the rental market. It was a disaster. The new president, Javier Milei, cancelled it and suddenly the whole market reacted. It is not a miracle, but supply multiplied in a few months.

Is the implication that the housing market in, for example, England, is not ruined? Fair enough to say rent controls can be deleterious but realistically the fact that rent controls are so popular is because of how ruined the housing market already is. And why is that? Because a roof over one's head, one of the most important things a person needs to survive, is largely at the whim of a predatory, privatised system that perpetuates wealth inequality.

Rent control of existing inhabited units incentivizes construction of new supply, because that is the route open to generating profits. Lack of rent control just enables the owning class and VCs to steal money from their tenants pockets without putting in any work themselves. And the twaddle about rent control meaning that new units are priced high… no, in the absence of rent control, landlords of existing buildings just raise everyone else’s rent to match the high prices of new construction.

It is not a lack of accommodation it is a well-organised system to put people in a permanent rent state. which I call it Mafia. There were 9,081 apts completed in Dublin in 2023 representing more than three-quarters (78.0%) of apartment completions nationally. In my opinion, the big problem is they are all almost for rent, and many new apts are empty because are not affordable e.g. 2 bed over 2500€/month. 130,469 houses and 32,964 flats/apartments (including bed-sits) were vacant on the night of the census in 2022. Databases supplied to The Irish Times by GeoDirectory identify more than 12,000 vacant properties across Dublin, more than one-quarter of which - just over 3,200 - are in the city centre. When you don't allow people to buy and let keep so many accommodations outside the market (Airbnb is more profitable), a rent increase is inevitable, as I said it is a well-organised system or you pay high rent or become homeless.

Tax second homes -> force them to sell -> increase supply

What rubbish posing as Economics! Solution is obvious, more state built social and affordable housing is the solution. Not the private sector. The population of Iteland has grown 20% so there were bound to be problems.

Scotland and Ireland needs to look at England. No rent controls there and look how great the rental market is there!

The argument that Landlords leaving the market effects the market is purposeful daft ....Landlords cannot take the house with them when they leave...

No definition of rent control is actually proffered before telling us that economists, those great sages that consistently get stuff right, have pronounced it bad.

Arguably the most misleading video you guys have ever produced. Not even trying to hide the neoliberal nonsense

The problem with leaving planning policy to local councils is that they are often the level of government who are the most vehemently opposed to new supply due to the oversized influence of the NIMBY lobby. I’m afraid your policy suggestions leave out the political realities entrenched in town planning and localised populations leading to recommendations that may sound great in an economics paper but disastrous for housing supply in the real world. Great video nevertheless.

Not one memtion if institutional investor land lords (vulture funds) who make massive influence on the rental amd housing market.

Im lrish, own and rent a small appartement in Munich 31m2,rented for €500 to a young nurse,i have not increased the rent since 2018,i could easy get €700 for it today,but why should l,its not all about money so not all landlords are sharks,lm happy with my tennent she's correct, plus more rent means more tax for me

If we had a good government, we wouldn't have to depend on a private market, which is only motivated by profits. Depending on a private property market results in smaller familiars and ultimately, demographics decline and replacement. It's not hyperbolic to describe it as genocidal. We need hoarding taxes and taxes on empty properties.

Would the housing crisis in England and Wales be less severe?

We have rent controls/ceiling of 5% per year here in Abu Dhabi and it works very well. Still plenty of supply being built and offered. Gives residents stability and security. Might not be ideal for any market though.

Why not build a housing system that isn't dependent on private landlords? Where the local councils and the state provide 100% of the social and affordable housing in their area.

Mmm I'm not sure about your argument..... I think the flaw in your argument is one of that aspect viewing from .... If you consider the market not from the rental property but from the point of the. Renter you would see there are different types of renters who have need different rental contracts.

93% of turkeys (landlords) agree that christmas is a bad thing? makes as much sense as your video does. of course they don't like it. it also highlights the fact that laws should exist to force landlords to market and maintain properties at a minimum standard, hence they say the quality reduces because they don't have to spend money to maintain them

I have talked to a landlord who is selling because of the threat of eviction bans for selling properties and the chance that the opposition party will get into power at the next election (due to their calls for stronger restrictions on landlords).

In the first 2 minutes of the video we already get a wonderful example of technocratic mindrot. Policies are either good, such as forcing people to work until their 70s, or bad, such as any form of rent control. How the public feel about these policies is irrelevant to judging their quality, and the job of "courageous" politicians is to implement unpopular legislation while staying elected. Populism, which in academic literature refers to a style of rhetoric pitting the broader populace against some class or classes of "elites", is actually just when politicians represent the will of the people against the advice of experts (in this instance, Paul Krugman, estate agents and a Scottish Tory). All of this creates a vision of democracy where the public have no place in setting a mandate for government. What it doesn't account for is why, if this is how political systems ought to operate, we've had politics work like this for my entire life and still ended up in the hole we're in. I hope your investors are pleased anyway

Who are you Polysee? Neither your youtube about nor your patreon page doesn't say a word about this.

except there isn't a supply shortage... there are more houses per person in Scotland than there have ever been. since the lifting of rent controls in Scotland homes have gotten smaller faster, not larger. your ideology does not match reality, real world evidence shows rent controls can be successful when implemented correctly.

In my view there are 2 main flaws with this video. Firstly is that it only gets the perspective of the landlord and those opposed to rent controls. It fails to get the perspective of renters or those who support rent controls. The second flaw is that it presents an oversimplified and frankly incorrect view of how prices are set. Supply and demand only sufficiently explains price when the bargaining power (political power) of buyer and seller are equal. When bargaining power is divergent, as it always is in the sale of land, then supply and demand stops predicting price.

Irish household size hasn't seen a significant decrease. 'In 2022, there were on average 2.74 people per private household. This is a small decrease compared with the 2016 average, which stood at 2.75. In 2011, there were on average 2.73 people per private household.'(CSO)

Actually you failed follow logically your own presentation start at 3:50… and it’s badly presented anyway in the intend to make a bad look on Ireland and Scotland. The logic what you should follow is that the rented accommodations are getting sold, that’s would increase the supply on the house market and theoretically would make more affordable to buy a house, which means there is less demand for rented property and as a law of market, the prices would go down. I say it’s only in theory, because if your logic would work and the extra profit what they generate from rent would increase the supply by incentives the market to build home and then rent them would work, then for a long time (at least ten years) new build homes number would been much higher, as the market was hot and prices (profits) went up, but that didn’t happened… did it? Why? Because landlord/ house owners (many from the government or in the COUNCILS) are not interested to actually supply more, as they can max out from the existing properties. You must be either really delusional or xenophobere to suggest that it is only the problem of the Irish and the Scot as they introduce this policies. England and other part of the world has the same problem, especially those countries who build the housing market model based on private investment and interest and not for common good and on the base to make sure that the people who live in the country (whether native or immigrant) can have a basic human rights: live safely and healthy in their homes. Why you didn’t mention the Wienna model, where people REGARDLESS on class can rent AFFORDABLE, social housing? Well, I guess that would not fit your narrative.

Tell me you are Right Wing, without telling me you’re Right Wing at 0:54… “Courageous”….jesus…

You can’t just build yourself out of this. If all the jobs are in a few regions then you’ll always have more people moving there.

All is good except housing prices are artificially driven up, when there is, as you said, "spike in demand, landlords will release and built more housing" what an utter load of crap! "release more property" - don't you see? landlords will hold up property more and more just to make the spike in demand, then increase rent and squeeze the tenant rent caps are a bandaid on shitty system, but it's still better than bleeding out your argument speaker at 4:45 is a tory, are you f*cking kidding me?

Air bnb's are killing the wild alantic way for the locals

The price of everything in the world depends on supply and demand, any attempt to artificially fix the price will and always has led to unforseen consequences.

Stephen Kerr is a tory. Nuff said. Cheers

Any channel that cites Paul Krugman is a “don’t recommend channel” selection for me…

i think that this video leaves out a very large issue, one potential solution is to regulate those who can be landlords, conglomerates buying up huge swathes of property is happening all across the world, in australia and new zealand it has been very pronounced, when a corportaion is large enough to absorb losses, it can effectively dictate the market, similar things are happening in ireland, one may say that "rental controls created the conditions for such a thing to happen as it makes all locations not rental controlled much more lucrative and just sitting on them can even be profitable in the long term" however if we regulate that market so that individuals or corporations have a ceiling of ownership, it minimises the possibility of these large corporations that can absorb debt from sitting on rentals until they inevitably get occupied due to desperation. given how land and housing is a necessarily finite resource (we cant expand the physical boundaries of the country and we can only build so high), speculating on it is (i feel, given how shelter is a human right) an evil. For one example of where a heavily governmentally regulated system which takes charge of not just the lowest strata of housing is Vienna, private rentals are incentivised to compete with this. Yes, if one is inclined, you may claim "the private market will always do better and government is necessarily incompetent" however, we do have clear counterexamples. I would agree that a centralised government would be much more able to respond to these needs, as Leitrim is hardly to be compared to Dublin and the Orkneys are hardly comparable to Edinburgh. arguing against rent controls is pointing out that your method of getting the horses back in the barn isnt the most effective, but the horses bolted because opening the barn gates to private interests necessarily encourages speculation and that happened a long time ago. to put my cards on the table, i believe that the vast majority of housing out to be done by a government (yes, corruption happens in government but at least in government, corruption isnt the system working as intended.)

Ireland`s existing housing stock has been diliberately inflated by 200 billion euro which the government borrowed since 2008. They are also trying to inflate the cost of new housing, hence the cement levy. The way to solve the housing crisis is to take a pin to the house price bubble. This can be done proactively, by imposing punitive monthly taxes on existing housing stock and advertising the sale of any house in tax arrears on a government website. More likely however, it will happen despite the governments desperate efforts to prevent it. Specifically, it will happen when market forces overwhelm the government`s ability to keep the market rigged to the upside. A sharp recession, spurred on by global events will reduce sales in the multinational sector. Trump will entice multinationals to return their activities to the US. The ECB will face a dilemma trying to balance more QE with rising inflation. Without stimulus and a declining multinational sector, true price discovery in the housing market may be something the Irish government may not be able to prevent. Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize because what he was saying was music to the ears of those in power. But was he right? That depends on whether or not you think communism is a good idea. QE ultimately transfers everything to government ownership.

Great video as always, but a couple of points didn't quite land with me. Given the timelines highlighted in the video (eg 18 months of notice before even beginning to decentralise), I would have liked to have seen more discussion about shorter term policies and potential scale of impact eg a more effective crack down on short term lets - is that really less feasible politically than a wholesale decentralisation strategy? What's the scale of the supply being held out of the long term let market? I was also surprised to see "rental support for those with the least means to pay" added in almost as an afterthought at the end, given the focus on price point within the supply/demand framework. I would intuitively expect rental support to artificially inflate the market price, and would have liked to see the evidence behind this policy suggestion.

The argument about centralisation is a canard. Ireland has a population of a city. It’s a small country both geographically and demographically. If you seriously believe that the democratically elected government of a country this small cannot make effective housing policy decisions for its electorate then you betray a fundamental lack of confidence in democracy in general. Also proposing localism as a solution to the housing crisis will only make rent control more likely as the incentives for local politicians to make decisions based on short term electoral strategy are far greater because any down side has lesser impact and the scrutiny level is much lower. At least policy decisions made at a national level are held to account on a genuinely national level with all the necessary examination of those policies that goes with that. Lastly to propose essentially an unfettered capitalist approach as a cure for the housing crisis capitalism created is the definition of madness. Private landlords and private housing provision are not the way to ease housing problems in a market where scarcity has produced enormous profits for investors and current stakeholders. Making it unprofitable to continue to manufacture scarcity is the way out. That requires centralised policy making. Macro level strategy.

So what are you saying their should keep raising rent indefinitely??

Yes please remove the rent control. I want to see it. This complaing is clear as day but I want to see it for myself. Here's how's going to go Rent control removed Increase in available housing - hooray. Followed with more homeless people, higher rent prices. But people like the realter won't gonna mention any of that only the food things.

A great list of experts whom all have an interest in rents rising. Great impartial work.

I'm not sure that this analysis covers all angles. Perhaps rent control would work well if it was used as a measure to optimise the ratio between rental and owner-occupied. In the South East of the UK owner-occupiers are significantly priced-out, and this means that buy-to-let is a safe bet, a self-perpetuating cycle. The more people can't afford a deposit and mortgage, the more are forced to rent, which means more profits for buy-to-let. Is it obviously the case that building more houses would intervene in this cycle? If more houses are built, prices go down, but does this make buy-to-let unrprofitable enough that the ratio will rebalance to favour owner-occupiers? Rent controls, it seems to me, does put a ceiling on buy-to-let profitability, and if that leaves more housing stock available for owner occupiers, i.e. those who are stuck in a rent-trap, that would be a fantastic policy decision in the south east.

How many years/decades must people wait for the housing supply to make prices to stabilise and/or fall? Action is needed NOW! Rent controls will take care of that in the short term. It's either that or deflation. Take your pick!

Is scotland housing situation as bad as ireland? Genuine question

18 months would be nowhere near enough you’d need 5 years to allow time to build

Regards Ireland and Dublin in particular , it has a problem with snob locations, most folks are scared to buy in large parts of the city because its "Rough" and undesirable postal address, so they are forcing up prices in certain areas deemed better.

The Irish government will allow the 110% mortgage to return before house prices finally go into a market correction that the government will not be able to stop. In fact, the government may even allow people to borrow 150% mortgages, such will be their determination to postpone the inevitable. Of course, if defaults rise before that happens, the banks will be cautious about taking on axtra risk unless another round of bank bailouts are guaranteed. Obviously the bail ins would have to be exhausted before the bailouts happen.

Note the video does not mention uncontrolled mass immigration that means a huge increase in demand when the supply of housing is limited. The Irish government has been paying Ukrainian refugees €800/month EACH to stay in hotels and private accommodation. There is no affordable accommodation as a direct result.😢

Devolving the issue to local authorities won't do anything. They're as much at the whim of NIMBYism and populism as national government. Moreso in fact. Where is the evidence to suggest a local authority would drop rent controls to encourage an increase in housing supply? There would be no popular incentive to do so

Are you saying that out of the rent pressure zones there are no problems with rents and supply just boomed?

An absolutely fascinating video on an underdiscussed topic, well done!

Where does this channel get it's funding from and who is it owned by? I see you have a patreon but is funding obtained by any other means? Please be transparent.

Simon Coveny is some genius isn’t he.

There were approximately 141,600 immigrants entering the Republic of Ireland in 2023, compared with 120,700 in the previous year. During the provided time period, the number of immigrants coming to Ireland peaked at 151,100 in 2007.12

This is totally flawed. Have you looked at France, where there is a system for rent control AND a buoyant rental sector? Sure, greedy investors won’t want to invest so much but the investors that do are prepared for longer term roi

I agree rent controls dont work but maybe you should have led with we need social housing and local councils to build it rather than focusing your video on rent controls..fixing supply will solve the crisis and remove the calls for rent control. Removing rent controls while there is no supply will only sow unrest. Wouldn't fit with localism but i wonder could NAMA be repurposed to a state building agency given it already owns alot of property?

Sorry - your economics are incorrect - rents never come down - it is an inelastic market.

I wonder if rent cost were equivalent to the mortgage price would that change things. Especially for conglomerate investors.

It's the out of control cost that's mainly causing the rental problem not lack of rent controls!!! I can speak for Ireland only as I live there housing is over priced by about 50% and the main reasons for that is government policy to benefit there friends in the financial sector and all the other reasons basically fall under that case closed!! Rent control is basically vote gouging to appease all the people they've hurt to the benefit there palls in the financial sector and the landlord class. Sorry but really no need for a documentary on rent controls!

This is utter bootlicking nonsense.

The Government/ state must mass build housing!

Awesome thanks. Brilliant content. Keith woods Age 29 super rich he a friend Thomas. Better off with Italy as Italian nurse Bargi Italy. 125 Boreland Drive Knightswood good place to Live Thomas Scotland Britain. State pension Austria Vienna high yes compared to Ireland and Britain yes.

Seeing €850 as the *expensive* rent example is laughable when that's genuinely *less than half* of the average rent price for a one bed apartment in Dublin these days. Just look up places to rent in dublin on daft and you'll see plenty of one bed apartments over 2 grand.

Solution is to not artificially diminish supply. Let them build for Christ sake, and give the middle finger to the nimbys.

A child could tell you rent control is a con. But when most media including right on young influencers are in thrall to the political establishment then rent control is used to increase the pressure on home seekers.

In Scotland we are currently seeing our beautiful countryside in the Central Belt disappearing, for expensive housing, with no consideration as to the pressure on local infrastructure. We are seeing houses on new estates where they can't get insurance as the land floods. A plan to build 1000 houses which was rejected by the council was overturned by the Scottish Executive. Our doctor's lists are already full, mental health and social services barely coping and we are losing our open spaces- the only people benefitting are landowners and housebuilders. It's not just about houses. And before anyone asks, yes I am waiting on social housing but these estates are not about the small amounts of social housing included, they are about expensive boxes. Why not build up? Learn the lessons of the past and do it better? Why not spread the burden and have people encouraged to relocate to more remote areas?

Are there a set of recommended liberalization policies that could be introduced? I've heard about forcing municipalities to streamline approvals and reduce costs of building, among other things.

Well this is sad to see. I've been quite enjoying your channel, it has had some great points. But here you're just repeating liberal cliches based off research in the US that has little relevance to the housing market in most European countries. The idea that if you can suddenly charge what you want in rent then magically landlords will start keeping their homes well maintained...really now? Thats why all the houses in rent-control free London are in such a great way then? No. If you want landlords to properly maintain their homes then you set laws about these standards. Blaming rent control for the housing crisis is just deluded. Its terrible planning laws that stop more housing being built that is responsible for the housing crisis. Basic supply and demand is not how the housing market works in over-satuated markets like the UK and Ireland. The demand is sky high. Artificial controls on what you're able to build is what is stopping the supply matching this- not any limitation on potential rental profits. Look to UK social landlords for instance- they've had rent controls for decades...and they're keen to build more housing than they're able to due to availability of land and planning restrictions. The guy you have speaking about how he advertises a property he gets 200 people applying for it- this happens in rent-control free England too. This suggests it isn't artificially lower prices that are to blame and rather the simple fact that more people need homes than are available. Kicking rent control is a distraction tactic from those who don't actually want the housing crisis tackled. Don't fall for it. Rent control isn't meant to be a solution to the housing crisis so lets not pretend it is. Its paracetamol to dull the pain whilst you push for the actual treatment of building more housing.