Daft Property - Irish Property News

Homes at a discount - but are they still a good buy? 2008 Review: AFFORDABLE HOMES: There are lots of apartments and houses for sale under the Government's Affordable Homes schemes, writes Frances O'Rourke AOIFE MACMAHON had been renting for years when she applied to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLRCOCO) for an affordable house in November 2005. "The property market was at its peak and my mum urged me to apply. A couple of weeks later I got a letter saying I was number 168 on the list." After that, Aoife - a single 36-year-old media buyer with an income under the €58,000 affordable eligibility threshold - forgot about her application. She was happy to go on renting her apartment near the Luas in Dundrum; she had lived there for over five years but buying "was off the radar - apartments cost from €600,000 up" and anyway she had always dreamed of living near the sea. In January 2007 she got a call from the council. "There was a two-bed unit avai

Building sector to lose 40,000 jobs next year... Many leaving to seek work in the Middle East. THE Irish economy is dead on its feet and as many as 40,000 construction workers could lose their jobs next year as housing starts have slumped to pre-1993 levels, according to latest figures obtained by the Sunday Independent. So bad are things here that a number of leading Irish building companies are leading an exodus of our most skilled and talented workers to foreign lands in the search for work. It has emerged that Irish firms are now lining up work in places like Dubai and Iran, both of which are experiencing building booms. In what is further bad news for the Irish economy, the number of housing completions this year will be just 45,000 compared to the 93,000 at its peak two years ago, and next year it is reckoned that the number of completions will be less than 20,000. This year, not one county in Ireland has managed to match or better the number of housing starts last year. In a sh

'Affordable housing' now more expensive than market... WITH THE downturn in property prices, homes in north and south Dublin and Meath are on the market for the same or lower prices than similar homes under the affordable housing scheme. Buyers can save €10,000 on €245,000 two-bedroom apartments in Phibblestown Wood, Ongar, Dublin 15, and €5,000 on €205,000 three-bedroom homes at Parnell Drive and Parnell Green, Ladyswell, Mulhuddart, by purchasing on the open market instead of through Fingal County Council. Three-bedroom apartments at Bailis Village, Navan, Co Meath, available through the county council's affordable housing scheme for €233,000, are advertised at the same price on the open market, as are two-bedroom properties at Eaton Square, Rathcoole, in south Dublin, available through the county council for €220,000. By purchasing on the open market homeowners avoid the "clawback" aspect of affordable housing schemes. Clawback means that if a home is sold with