There are two housing narratives in Ireland at the moment: one good, one bad. The good one, trumpeted by the industry and the Government, is that we’re building again and that investor sentiment has turned a corner. Forecasts suggest the industry will build in the region of 40,000 new homes this year, a post-crash record. It is not the 50,000-plus that most see as necessary to address demand but a step in the right direction. Several industry leaders also claim the Government has got the right policies in place to attract investors back after a drought in private rental sector investment linked to higher interest rates and strict rent controls.They point to the positive mood music around Ireland at the recent MIPIM real estate conference in Cannes.The bad narrative is that prices are locked in an upward spiral, creating insurmountable affordability challenges for young people. We also got two reports in the last week suggesting the Government’s high-profile reform of the rent rules triggered a spate of evictions as opposition politicians had predicted. Data from the Residential Tenancies Board indicated notices of terminations doubled to more than 7,000 in the first quarter.[ Why are rents in Ireland at record levels?Opens in new window ]This was followed by Daft’s latest rental report showing market rents in the same period surged by 4.4 per cent as landlords availed of the new rules to end tenancies and reset rents at market rates. Daft said the average market rent nationally for a two-bedroom apartment was now almost €2,200 per month, 40 per cent above pre-Covid levels. How a young person starting off in their career affords that, God only knows. There’s a presumption that solving the supply problem will solve the price problem but there’s little evidence it will. That said, failure to address supply would make the affordability challenge even greater. It’s cold comfort to buyers and renters here that housing is a global problem and that Ireland is just one of many countries failing to square the circle.