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Irish Property Buyer Magazine...Irish Not Buying...

Sunday Tribune's Ken Griffin reports today that...


ONE OF the country's leading property magazines has become the latest victim of the construction slowdown, having ceased trading due to deteriorating advertising revenues.

Publication of 'Irish Property Buyer' was suspended on Wednesday after a last-ditch attempt to save the magazine collapsed.

The title was established four years ago by publisher Joan Fitzpatrick and a former senior editor with the 'Irish Times', Don Buckley, at the height of the property boom. At one stage, the monthly title sold over 7,500 copies per issue but this had fallen to nearer 6,000 in recent times.

Buckley told the Sunday Tribune the title had been running at a loss since the end of 2007.

"The slide began towards the end of 2006. Last year, we pumped our reserves from previous years into the title to maintain its position but things continued tailing off," he said. He said even advertising for over­seas properties, which had held up well, had recently started to decline.

Buckley said the magazine's backers had offered the title to other prominent Irish magazine publishers but they were "running away from anything with 'property' in the title". He added that they had decided to close the magazine after a final rescue attempt failed last week.

He said the magazine's directors would now reach agreements with its creditors using their own financial resources.

"We haven't ruled out reactivating the title at a later date," explained Buckley. "To be honest, though, I can't see any upturn in the property market for a number of years."

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