Daft Property - Irish Property News

The average Dublin house price is now €242,000 according to the latest Daft report... ASKING prices for residential property around the country fell by 19 per cent during 2009 and are now nationally 30 per cent below asking levels in early 2007, according to Daft’s latest house price report published today. The national average asking price for residential property at the end of 2009 was €242,000 – a fall of €107,000 from the peak in early 2007. In Dublin, asking prices have dropped by up to 42 per cent since the peak says the report. Earlier this week the country ’s largest estate agency chain, Sherry FitzGerald, said that house prices had dropped 20.3 per cent nationally in 2009, and in Dublin, had fallen in real terms by 45.7 per cent since 2006. Commenting on the link between price falls and movement on the market, Daft economist Ronan Lyons says that while Dublin saw the largest fall in house prices in 2009 “the total stock for sale in the capital fell by almost 20 per cent over...

Price drop? About 50% - and all agree... PROPERTY prices to fall 45 per cent, one of this week’s headlines read; property prices have fallen 70 to 80 per cent, said another. And just last week, the ESRI/Permanent TSB reported that prices were down 24.4 per cent “from the peak in February 2007”. Confused? Yes, especially if you didn’t take in that international ratings agency Fitch’s warnings of a 45 per cent drop in Irish property prices related to the fall from a peak, which it said was in December 2006. And exasperated, if like estate agent Ian Finnegan of Finnegan Menton, you’re well aware that prices have already fallen by as much as 50 per cent. Since when? “Mid-2006,” says Finnegan, which he identifies as the real peak. Most in the industry agree with him: MyHome’s property consultant Paul Murgatroyd reckons prices have already fallen by an average of 40 per cent and have another 10 per cent or so more to fall before the market hits bottom – probably in the second half of 2010. I...

We've never had it so bad, ESRI warns... Recession worst since the 1930s, think-tank reveals IRELAND is suffering the worst recession of any advanced country since the 1930s, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) warns in a grim analysis of the economy. Unemployment could rise above 500,000 as national income (GNP) is forecast to fall by 14pc over the three years from 2008 to 2010. The fall in national income beats the 11pc decline in the Finnish crisis of 1990 to 1993, when the collapse of the Soviet Union suddenly deprived Finland of its main market. The ESRI believes this year will be the worst of the crisis, with income per person plunging by more than 9pc in real terms. But there will be further decline next year, with a 1.2pc fall in national income. The stark outline comes as new figures will today show that the rate of increase in unemployment has slowed, but that 384,000 people are signing on. The CSO statistics reveal that an additional 11,000 signed on the li...

World reaction to Budget... The reaction to the Budget from European and US websites was wide ranging, with news organisations throughout the globe reporting on the new measures introduced by the Government. The story was picked up not only the usual large media organisations such as the BBC and the Independent, but also by papers less familiar to Irish taxpayers, such as Canada's Toronto Star. The Times online carried a short video clip about the emergency budget and what it would mean for Britain's economy. Describing it as a "bust budget" , the video said Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan was delivering his second emergency Budget in seventh months, describing it as a grim task for any finance minister. However, it pointed out that Ireland had some advantages over Britain, with a smaller national debt, and said that markets would now be looking to Britain's fiscal position. The accompanying article described the measures as a way to address the "runaway...

If you want to escape, it will cost you... Not so long ago, emigrants were paid to go to Australia -- today, it could cost a few grand to get into Oz...beating the downturn...the hidden cost emigrating to find work. WITH up to 300 jobs a day being lost in Ireland, anyone would be tempted to hop on a plane out of here. Although no country is likely to escape, Canada is expected to avoid the worst blows. Small wonder then that Canada is becoming a more popular place to emigrate to than in the past. Other favourites include Australia and New Zealand. Although the US and Britain have their fair share of recession blues, the traditional links between both countries and Ireland continues to draw Irish emigrants there. However, the cost of emigrating could burn a deep hole in your pockets. CANADA Home to the Rockies, the grizzly bear and the awkward moose, anyone emigrating to Canada certainly won't be hungry for the great outdoors -- but you could need almost €18,000 to enter the countr...

Guru hobbs blames cowen as homeowners face 10 year wait for property price recovery... Financial guru Eddie Hobbs has lashed Taoiseach Brian Cowen for the "leadership vacuum" that has prevailed for the past year. And he warned that it could take up to 10 years for Irish property prices to return to anywhere near their pre-recession levels. In a hard-hitting critique of the country's leaders, Hobbs claimed the Government had failed to lead the nation for the past decade. "There was a lot more they could have done but I don't think the Government have properly governed the country for the past 10 years," he told the Herald. "Ireland has been governed by other forces instead, like developers and public sector income through the partnership process. Now that that process is fractured, the Government is only beginning to govern again. "I find it no coincidence that we're finally beginning to see leadership from Brian Cowen within days of the fractur...

Developers cut prices of new homes in Dublin... Developers have sharply reduced prices at some of Dublin’s bigger housing schemes this weekend, in a bid to stimulate sales of vacant units and entice first-time buyers into the market. Price reductions of up to €150,000 are being offered at the latest releases of apartments and houses for sale. P Elliott & Co has put a total of 80 units at four of its apartment schemes, on to the market through Hooke & MacDonald, at substantially reduced prices. Prices now start at €169,000 for a one-bedroom apartment at Arena in west Dublin, while a two-bedroom apartments at Mellowes Quay in Dublin 8 now costs €269,000, down from a high of €415,000 in spring 2007. Jackson Homes, Kingscroft Developments and Durkan New Homes have also reduced prices at their schemes by about €100,000, or up to 30 per cent on peak levels. Estate agents reported strong enquiries ahead of this weekend’s releases. ‘‘Based on the level of enquiries we’ve had, we expect...

The new property reality... Like many things these days, the chances of selling a property seems to boil down to one factor: putting a realistic price tag on it and then being willing to take less than that. For estate agents around the country the last six months have been their worst nightmare. The younger generation of property professionals has never encountered the frustrations of the kind of market in which they are now operating. In the last six months there has been a growing body of buyers who are ready with mortgage approval or cash in the bank. These potential buyers have been tentatively viewing properties, and some even made offers. Then the daily diet of bad news increased and they evaporated back to the arms of the rental market - or their parents spare rooms - to sit it out. So what properties have sold in the last six months, the toughest months in a generation? The answer seems to be those that are 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than houses were on the same streets and ro...

Cowen's call to arms in time of need... The nation is demanding an Obama-esque state of the nation address from the Taoiseach. Here, Frank McNally offers his take on what Brian Cowen might say... ‘FRIENDS, CITIZENS, COUNTRYMEN: lend me your ears! And not just your ears. If there’s anything else you can lend me, all pledges would be gratefully accepted. We have people ready to take your call now at the number showing on screen. But I’ll come back to that later. Sixty-five years ago, in the midst of another national emergency, Éamon de Valera addressed the people, much as I am doing this evening, and chose the occasion to outline his vision of the ideal Ireland. He said the country of which he dreamed was one whose people would be satisfied with frugal comforts, and who devoted their leisure time to things of the spirit. It was a land in which material wealth would be valued only as the basis for right living; a land whose countryside was bright with cosy homesteads; whose fields wer...

Best to ignore the cheerleaders for the property sector... HAPPY new year? Not really. The banks are at death’s door. Unemployment is rocketing. Cuts much more severe than those proposed in the recent budget are inevitable. The recession is deepening, with fears that Ireland is on the verge of a so-called ‘lost decade’ growing increasingly realistic. We’re up the creek. Auctioneers and developers, however, have a different vision for 2009, one where ever more affordable homes will be snapped up by a willing populace. After all, construction firms cannot cut prices further as they are “down to their bottom line” on prices, according to one builder recently. Indeed, those who are “stupidly waiting” for prices to fall further should cop themselves on and realise that prices are bottoming. This stupidity has been disappointing developers for some time now. In August, property tycoon Derek Quinlan noted that first-time buyers must be given the confidence to buy as “negative media comm...

‘Wrong-Headed’ RBS, Danske, HBOS Lose in Irish Bubble... Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- It’s not just the Irish who are being stung by the collapse of the property market in what was once Western Europe’s most dynamic economy. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which bought Dublin-based First Active in 2004 in what was the largest overseas takeover of an Irish bank, said on Jan. 26 it will cut 750 jobs. Danske Bank A/S said provisions for impaired Irish loans rose by more than 10 times in the third quarter. “They were chasing the bubble, and now they are paying the price for it,” said Alex Potter, an analyst at Collins Stewart in London. “Their timing was absolutely wrong-headed.” Ireland’s economy is shrinking at the fastest pace in the euro area as the real estate market dives. The demise of the “Celtic Tiger” forced the government to seize control of Anglo Irish Bank Corp., which lends mainly to property developers, and to promise Allied Irish Banks Plc and Bank of Ireland Plc, the two bigg...

Property crisis has moved from slump to crash... ...price guide reveals desperate state of the housing market and its negative effect on the value of homes all across Ireland: First, we need to get our terminology right. To date, Ireland’s property crisis has been described as a slowdown, a downturn and a slump. But today the Sunday Times Property Price Guide 2009 shows that we’re in the grip of nothing less than a full-blown crash — and, by world standards, a severe one at that. In recent months, property agents have claimed that successive price surveys have not come close to reflecting the grim reality they have been experiencing on the ground. Now, with the help of our guide, you can realistically assess for the first time how the crash has affected the value of your home. This survey is more accurate than any other; to put it simply, no rival survey is as specific as the Sunday Times Property Price Guide. Here we examine the performance of more than 20 types of property in more th...

Trophy seaside home tells story of the boom... IF A SINGLE house could tell the story of the property boom then it might be Sorrento Villa on Vico Road in Dalkey, Co Dublin. The Victorian detached house, facing the sea, slumbered up on the hill for decades, its interior divided into two spacious units that would have been described as flats rather than apartments. The house dates from the 1860s when it was built by a provost of Trinity College as a summer villa: and he chose one of the finest sites on the hill with a sunny east-to-south exposure. Two years ago when property prices reached fever pitch, it came on the market with an Advised Minimum Value (AMV) of €4.5 million. However, after intense bidding at auction it sold for €5.6 million. Stamp duty at 9 per cent added an additional €500,000. The new owners went on to spend many thousands more on redecorating the rooms and making changes to the layout, converting it to a five-bedroom house. They also drew up plans to install an expe...

Dublin council to reduce affordable house prices... DUBLIN CITY Council is to discount its total stock of affordable homes to get rid of a backlog of 300 unsold houses that are costing the council upwards of €300,000 a month in bridging loans and fees. The council is to offer further discounts of about 25 per cent on houses it had already discounted by up to 35 per cent of the original market price to compete with developers’ discounts. Developers must provide 20 per cent of any new housing estate or complex for social and affordable housing. A discounted price for the affordable units is agreed on the market price. The discount in Dublin is generally in the region of 30 – 35 per cent. The council gives the developer names of people who are eligible to buy an affordable house. If two affordable house buyers reject the house or apartment, the council is obliged to buy it from the developer at the agreed discounted price. In a rising market, this system worked well. However, now that hou...

Well-heeled south Dublin suburbs, commuter enclaves and student cities have all been devastated by the property price slump. But some have been hit worse than others and the pace of the fall in prices is picking up in some counties and cities. Nick Webb reveals where prices are falling fastest ... 1. Galway City 12.2 per cent drop at end of 2008 HOUSE prices in Galway City are falling faster than anywhere else in the Republic, according to new research. In the final quarter of 2008, house prices fell by a staggering 12.2 per cent. That means that between October to Christmas, the average house price in Galway shed €40,000, falling to just over €303,000 or by close to €450 per day. Galway city house prices have fallen by 21.1 per cent since the height of the property madness in mid-2006, according to Daft findings. The price haemorrhage was slower in Galway county, although it was still the seventh fastest falling market in the last quarter, with prices tumbling 7.2 per cent. Last week...

With an oversupply of properties and tumbling prices, renting seems the way to go... IN THE Chinese calendar, 2009 is the year of the ox, but in Ireland it looks set to be the year of the renter. Economists are predicting that rents will drop by at least 10 per cent in the year ahead, compounding similar falls in 2008. Tenants are waking up to the fact that it’s a buyers’ market and negotiating lower rents and better conditions (see panel). In many cases, they are renting properties that they could never afford to buy. Large, luxurious homes are coming on to the rental market for the first time. Meanwhile, new standards are coming into force next month which will improve the quality of existing rental accommodation. Forget about grotty bedsits, coin-operated electricity meters and rent hikes – tenant power is in the ascendant. The downward pressure on rents has been caused primarily by a glut of properties flooding the market. Developers, buy-to-let investors and those trading up who f...

Ireland's Property Market: A Fallen Star? Ronan Lyons, Daft's in-house economist, commenting on the latest Daft research on the Irish property market... When we look back at 2008 in a few years' time, I think it's fair to say we will regard it as the annus horribilis for Ireland's property market. In late 2006, we issued a report which was the first to spot a slowdown in the property market. At the time, it was our view - unpopular though it was - that rising interest rates and high levels of supply would lead to a levelling off in house prices. This turns out to only have been the start of the story. Bursting onto the world stage at the end of the 1990s, Ireland was heralded as an economic phenomenon and rapidly became a global superstar and poster-child for economic development. But recently it looks like it's all just falling apart. Nowhere is this more evident than in Ireland's housing market - until recently the engine of Ireland's economic growth. ...