Sir, – Rising prices in the Irish property market have bestowed very attractive profit margins on build-to-rent private investors. They are quick to say how they are helping the property market but in reality they are creating a huge time bomb for the State. The high rents of these schemes mean only people on significant wages can afford them. What happens when they retire and their pensions are less than half their working wage?They will need to seek less expensive accommodation. Private developers are not interested in these lower return people – they will need to leave private accommodation and it will be left to the State to provide social housing for them. In essence, private investors will reap the profits from good earners in their working years and leave the State to pick up the cost when the renters can no longer afford the private rents. The short-term push for the optics of completed units has clouded the vision to what is the best in the long term. Similar to the requirements in part V of the Planning and Development Act, there should be a requirement for a scheme over a reasonable size, eg 10 units, to have a 50 per cent owner-occupied requirement. Private developers will of course cry foul and threaten to leave the market. Such bluster is usually enough to coerce or frighten the Government into reducing the developers’ obligations. However, we should have confidence in our own commercial attractiveness: Ireland is a politically stable country, in the EU and with good growth. If current investors threaten to leave, their bluff should be called and even if they do leave they will be quickly replaced as the margins will still be more attractive than many other markets.The Government needs to be strong to deliver housing. Unfortunately this is difficult when Opposition parties are constantly shouting on the lack of delivery – rather than support the country’s interest, they seek political opportunism to exploit a possible slowdown in units being developed. As long as parties use housing as a political football, short-termism will be the route most travelled to the long-term detriment of the Irish people. – Yours, etc,PAT BOYLE,Blackrock,Dublin.