Stamp duty on residential property currently applies at rates of 1% on the first €1 million of the consideration, 2% on the excess over €1 million, and 6% on the excess over €1.5 million. The exception to this arises where 10 or more houses are acquired in any 12-month period by one purchaser. In such a situation a rate of 15% is applied. This higher rate was initially introduced in May 2021 at 10% in order to disincentivise the bulk purchase of houses by investment funds, so freeing up new houses for acquisition by first time buyers and other private purchasers
My Department is aware of policies regarding the purchase of property within Canada and in New Zealand, which with some exceptions place restrictions on non-citizens purchasing residential property.
It should be noted that it would not be possible to place such a restriction or the introduction of a higher stamp duty rate on non-residents as a whole, owing to EU rules regarding non-discrimination vis-á-vis those from other EU Member States.
In regard to non-EEA purchasers, there is no requirement for those acquiring residential properties to inform the authorities here of their current place of residence. Therefore there is no readily available official data on the level of residential property acquisition by such purchasers here.
