Daft Property - Irish Property News

NAMA under fire for failing to help house poor people. ENVIRONMENT Minister Phil Hogan is embroiled in a row with NAMA over whether the agency is doing enough to house poor people. The minister said he was unhappy with the toxic assets agency for not selling properties under its control at a discount to his department. These could then be used to house those on council housing waiting lists. But the department was unable yesterday to identify specific areas in need of social housing where NAMA had a stockpile of suitable properties. And NAMA has no specific legal obligation to help to resolve the social housing problem. The law setting up the agency says that one of its purposes is "to contribute to the social and economic development of the State". But there is no mention about handing over specific numbers of properties for social housing. So far just 58 apartments in the Beacon South Quarter, Sandyford, which had been in NAMA, have been purchased by a volun

Almost €200m was wiped off the value of houses in price reductions in less than a month by sellers desperate to offload their properties, the Sunday Independent can reveal. In what is being described as the introduction of "a major dose of reality" to the housing market, price drops of over 50 per cent have been reported on many houses, particularly in the Dublin area. Price reductions before last month had slowed, with sellers refusing to budge below their expectations, but the lack of activity has forced them to massively reduce their original prices in order to sell, industry figures have said. IrishPropertyWatch.com, which charts property price falls and increases, in a report on the period March 15 to the April 20, showed that over 3,700 properties dropped their prices, while only a small number raised theirs. The largest drop in price was over €1m, from €2.9m to €1.9m, while the average price drop was €41,989. It's report showed that over 80 per cent of houses had

Are these the cheapest apartments in Dublin? €159,000 price tag on these apartments in D15 set a new benchmark for starter homes in the city... CAPEL Developments is billing the one-bedroom apartments at its new Waterways scheme in Ashtown, Dublin 15, as the cheapest in the city. Priced at €159,000, the apartments in the canalside scheme are 35 per cent cheaper than when the first phase of the large development was launched by Capel back in 2005. In 2006, one-beds at the scheme were priced around €300,000, 47 per cent more expensive than today’s price. In a bid to clear overhanging stock, Capel Developments is offering deep discounts and now claims to be offering the cheapest one-bed apartments in the capital. The €159,000 one-bed units have 47–50sq m (505–543sq ft) of space. Also on sale from this weekend through Savills are 73–80sq m (790–860sq ft) two-bed apartments which are priced from €248,000. Three-bed top floor apartments have 85–105sq m (918–1,135sq ft) and are priced from €2

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

€1 million price drop for well located property... DONNYBROOK €2.25m This four-bedroom house on Nutley Lane, which was extensively and expensively refurbished, has seen its price fall by more than €1 million EXACTLY ONE YEAR ago we carried a review of a house at 18 Nutley Lane in Donnybrook that had been bought as an investment with the intention of doing it up and sellling it on at a profit. The owners of the four-bedroom house purchased it in 2006, paid stamp duty at nine per cent, and spent several hundred thousand on renovations. In all, they probably spent in the region of €3.5 million. It went back on the market last November at €3.25 million, to snorts of disbelief from rival agents who were finding it difficult to shift property in the area for a good deal less. The price has been gradually dropping ever since, but the latest discount has landed number 18 at €2.25 million, a full million below its 2007 price. Selling agent Felicity Fox hopes this latest cut might tempt buyers w