Housing shortage becomes critical business constraint
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Breakfast Business with Enterprise Ireland on Newstalk.
What does the new S&W Business Owners Sentiment Survey reveal about housing and business?
Now, a new survey of Irish business owners reveals that Irish housing shortages have evolved from a social issue into a critical business constraint, with 68% of businesses saying that housing influences where they locate their offices. That's according to the Ireland edition of the Business Owners Sentiment Survey by Professional Services Group S&W. I'm joined by the Managing Director, John O'Callaghan. Good morning, John. Good morning, Tom. How are you? Now, we get to the housing bit in a moment. But first of all, there was something else in the survey that jumped out to me.
Which business types and revenue bands were surveyed and why does that matter?
And this was that young business owners and we're talking about businesses with more than five million in revenue. So we're not talking about people with the coffee shop or the hairdresser. We're talking about small to medium sized businesses, but not insubstantial. Young business think the government is anti-business?
Yeah, that was an interesting piece that came out. So when you do these surveys, you tend to have different types of data sorts that you split it out. And the younger generation or the generational divide was something that came out of it. So there were a few other pieces that came out as well. So, for example, the sort of 35 to 44 cohort were more exit-focused in relation to their business. And then we had 43% of that same 25 to 44 cohort saying that the government is deterring their expansion plans. So it kind of contrasted with what some of the overall views in relation to how government are performing. So... You know, 79% had faith in the government's approach to dealing with the economy. You know, 45 to 54 year old, 77% expressed confidence.
So you have this big dichotomy.
Between younger business owners and older business owners. And older business owners seem to be saying, I had government pretty much pro-business and younger people are going... Yeah, not pro-business enough. Housing also emerged as a big theme. Now, not surprising that housing is an issue. We've got a housing crisis. But perhaps the extent to which it was influencing business leaders is something of a surprise.
And it was about half of all business leaders had issues in relation to housing. So is it difficult to attract qualified candidates? Do you have to pay higher salaries? Increased wage pressure across all of your employee cohorts. lost, you know, 43% of lost potential employees due to inability to get housing. And 7 in 10 really saying that impacts on where they may look to relocate their business. So you did say it's moved very much from a social issue to a business issue and a very pressing business issue.
So you say relocate. That's not how I thought they were looking at, if they're looking at expanding the look where housing is available. But you think that business people are looking at relocating from areas where housing is an even more critical problem to areas where perhaps more housing is available.
Well, I'm not so sure people would up sticks and move. But certainly when they're looking to see where are we going to go or where are we going to expand, where are we going to open our next place, that would be very much in mind as to look, will it be a particularly attractive place for people to come? Are they going to be able to find a home? Are they going to have a commute that is going to be somewhat reasonable in relation to my daily life? So, you know, we hear about this... with our own S&W clients all the time. But this has been a much wider net and it's coming very strong to us.
You're confirming something that you've already heard on an offhand basis. But presumably this means, John, and it's reasonable to infer, that businesses that are looking to expand are looking outside of Dublin because the most critical, and indeed any of the big cities.
Well, the really interesting piece, when we looked and had questions in relation to growth, so 90% say that they're looking to pursue international growth. Now, I wouldn't necessarily link that to a housing crisis, but, you know, that...
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:08
2
What does the new S&W Business Owners Sentiment Survey reveal about housing and business?
0:08–0:43
3
Which business types and revenue bands were surveyed and why does that matter?
0:43–5:10
4
How do younger business owners view government policy compared with older owners?
5:10–6:05