Daft Property - Irish Property News

Spectre of gloom looms for those who keep their jobs as well as those laid off... GOING, GOING gone. Once these three words were the oft-repeated mantra of Ireland's busy auctioneers; now they form a gloomy synopsis of the state of the Irish jobs market. With no homes going under the hammer, the axe fell on jobs in the construction sector over the course of 2008. A decisive coinciding blow from the global economic crisis saw the reverberations spread through all sectors of the economy. Jobs are now being lost at such a fast rate that an Opposition leader (Labour Party's Eamon Gilmore) can call the soaring unemployment rate a "national crisis" and it doesn't sound like political hyperbole. Having started the year below 5 per cent, the estimated unemployment rate in November was 7.8 per cent. Economists now forecast that the rate will jump to double digits by the end of 2009. Almost 100,000 people joined the Live Register of unemployment benefit claimants in the fir

Ireland: Testing Times... How do we cope with recession? Valerie Shanley hears from leading experts and thinkers... In with the old, out with the new. But if we started 2008 as slightly mangy Celtic Tigers, who are we now as we venture a toe into 2009? The collapse in our economy has left an entire section of society feeling much poorer – especially those with big houses and share portfolios in Irish banks. Gone are the days when estate agents could tell you that the first thing new owners of a house should do on moving in was to rip out the designer kitchen the previous owners had only recently installed and replace it with another. Because gone are many of those estate agents. If the masters of no universe are having to re-evaluate the way they look at themselves, what about the rest of us? Even though most people were observers, as opposed to participants, in the ostentatious wealth of 'the boom', there was a positive, knock-on effect in confidence generally. Looking around,

We must demand greater accountability from politicians, regulators and business... PICTURE THE scene: greedy executives, shady solicitors, lying politicians, child- abusing priests, cover-ups, fraud and lots of brown envelopes. It sounds like an episode of US cops and corruption show The Wire, but it's actually the horrifying reality show known as Noughties Ireland . The first series of Noughties Ireland in 2007 delivered scheming property developers and government officials happy to look the other way . Series two featured a shamed taoiseach, several dodgy solicitors, the Fás scandal and questionable banking practices. This year's series sees paedophile priests and bishops who damn children to a lifelong personal hell. Fraud is also likely to make an appearance this year. Paddy Power is taking bets on which Irish sector will be charged with the biggest fraud in 2009. The odds favour banking, property and the legal sector , with telecoms and State/semi-State bodies next in line

More price cuts as season starts... There will be a drop in the supply of houses new to the market in 2009, but sellers are still having to cut prices - again... THE DUBLIN property market has opened with price cuts at all levels of the market, as sellers digest news of the country's deteriorating finances and economists' gloomy forecasts. Estate agents are taking a fresh look at their stock and advising sellers to reconsider prices. The reassessment is going on at all levels of the market, according to Peter Kenny of Colliers, where notable price cuts include €130,000 off a three-bedroom penthouse in a development at Old Conna, Riverdale, on Dargle Road, Bray, Co Wicklow. The 130sq m (1,400 sq ft) apartment with river views has has been reduced from €560,000 to €430,000. Colliers has also dropped the price of a four-bedroom semi at Burnaby Mill in Greystones from €720,000 to €580,000 in an effort to attract buyers, while in Dún Laoghaire, Gunne has just dropped the price of an

Can we remake Ireland's future? The year ended with the certainty that the global crisis is not a short-term glitch, and that Ireland is suffering more than most. Will 2009 bring the shift in Irish political culture needed to bring us back from the brink? LATE LAST YEAR, when the rock band Tindersticks played in Dublin, they finished their set with The Not Knowing , a haunting ballad of love and denial. The words seemed especially apt and particularly poignant: "The not knowing is easy/ The suspecting, that's okay/ Just don't tell me for certain/ That our love has gone away." Replace "love" with "boom" and the sad song would be a three-hankie job. This time last year, the not knowing still came easy and even the strong suspicion that the good times were definitively over could be drowned in denial, excess or the mellow lullabies of "soft landings". Now we know for certain, and if there is to be comfort in 2009, we have to find it in t

'No Irish need apply' - Polish builders get their own back... 'NO Irish need apply' - the signs are already going up on building sites abroad in a throwback to the grim days of the the last century. But this time they are starting to appear in Poland as that country takes its revenge for the way in which some unscrupulous Irish contractors treated their countrymen during the years of the Celtic Tiger. Trade union official Michael Kilcoyne - also president of the Consumers Association of Ireland - said it had recently been brought to his attention that the 'No Irish' signs had appeared on a couple of Polish building sites where workers were being sought. Mr Kilcoyne said: "The reality is that our international reputation as employers has been sullied. Many foreign people who have worked here, especially during our boom years, have had bad experiences. "The evidence of this is in the number of cases taken before the Labour Relations Commission over the l

The grand house of cards comes tumbling down... The engine of the economic boom came grinding to a halt this year, but optimists hope the housing collapse is near bottom... MAYBE, JUST maybe, people will look back on 2008 as the year in which they should have bought property. A few years from now, when the economic gloom has lifted, today's prices - down as much as 40 per cent from the peak of 2006 - might seem like so many missed opportunities for first-time buyers and trader-uppers. If that sounds like something that a property journalist would say, then consider Warren Buffet's oft-quoted advice to investors: "Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful." Right now, people in the Irish property market are very fearful. A combination of tumbling prices, banks refusing to lend and fast-eroding job security has created an atmosphere in which people are afraid to commit to buying even a sofa, never mind a home. "It's carnage out th

Will your home pass the test?... From next month, all houses on the market will have to have a Building Energy Rating certificate. What does this mean for homeowners, renters and landlords? WHEN THE Building Energy Rating (BER) assessor came by it was a cold two degrees outside and we were all wearing our fleeces indoors - even with the blinds down, curtains drawn and the heating on. Good recyclers and energy-conscious home owners, we thought we'd do okay. We knew we would be nowhere close to the top of the scale but we thought we might scrape through with a D. The house was partially carpeted. We had blinds on our double-glazed windows and draught proofing on the front doors. However, the assessor, James Carroll of greenthinking.ie, explained how the cavity walls were letting cold air in. Pumping polystyrene bead insulation into the cavities would be the only way to reduce this huge loss of heat, he explained. Meanwhile, our stylish flame-effect gas fires were merely cosmetic, he

2008 Review: NEGOTATING: It was the year everybody learnt how to haggle. Arthur Beesley reports... HERE'S A dilemma. After searching for that sleek new home, you've finally found just the place, done the deal, raised the money, surveyed to your satisfaction and readied your crew for the big move. All that remains is to ink the contract. Should you sign? Or should you refuse, warning that you will withdraw if the vendor won't cut their price? After all, there may be no one else in the race. And the vendor, for whatever reason, may be under pressure to complete the sale. Threatening to pull out now might endanger the deal, but a lower price would improve your fiscal position. Your call. You're a buyer in a rapidly declining market. Your job is secure, your bank is on board and you're ready to transact. You might see dishonour in seeking to snatch better terms after a "final" agreement is reached - or you may decide there's no place for moral quibbles in

If you can't sell, swap: how the rich do it... A Dublin property developer has acquired the Canadian embassy residence on nine acres opposite Bono's house in Killiney in exchange for a D6 home - and €3m THE CANADIAN government has swapped its Killiney embassy residence for a lavishly renovated house in Ranelagh, plus cash, in a deal with property developer Michael Roden. A foreign affairs spokesperson in Ottawa confirmed that Mr Roden had paid around 4.8 million Canadian dollars (€3.01m) in cash and given a detached house on Oakley Road in Ranelagh in exchange for the Canadians' nine-acre property on Strathmore Road, Killiney. He plans to renovate the sprawling 1860s house which lies across the road from Bono's Vico Road home. Strathmore has been owned by the Canadian government since 1957 when it bought it for £20,300. Last year they put it on the market at €17 million and moved new ambassador Pat Binns into an apartment in the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge. The sa

€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

Latest figures confirm the "softening" in house prices and according to a report from the Irish Independent... " HOUSE prices fell by 9pc in the past year, wiping €27,500 off the value of the average home. National house prices fell by 0.7pc in March, according to yesterday's Permanent TSB/ERSI house price index. But the price decline for first-time buyer houses was greater, at 10pc, as potential buyers have been squeezed hard by banks hiking up interest rates for new customers. A 10pc drop in First-Time Buyer (FTB) house prices will see some 40,000 new buyers go into negative equity by the end of the year, according to Davy Stockbrokers. Negative equity is when the value of the mortgage is greater than the value of the home. Economists also warned that prices will have to fall further if first time buyers are to be enticed back into the market. New buyers have also been hit by the withdrawal of 100pc mortgages, and the need to find deposits of up to 10pc. Over a th

With the Paddy's Festivities now over...it's back to reality! With Irish property prices crashing many people are now staying put. For those that wanted to move for space, getting an "extension" is now the big buzz. And the new thing is "going down under"!!! A Basement is the easy option to create a whole extra floor. Already common in many other parts of the world the basement option is totally new to Ireland - that's all about to change with the arrival of "The London Basement Company." Obviously a basement can be used for anything with multiple room options - some of the more creative have installed gyms, home cinemas and swimming pools etc. Like it!

Paddy's Day Dublin: This years theme is "Energy" so it should be good! The Paddy's Day Parade kicks off at 12 noon 17th March 2008: See it here live - Dublin Webcam

"Stagflation" says it all... "Brian Cowen's sloppy economic management has exposed Ireland to the risk of 'stagflation', a lethal combination of a stagnant economy and rising inflation," according to Fine Gael's Richard Bruton.

Parade Video: More daft news...The bubble has burst - The Irish housing market and economy is now on major downturn, property prices are crashing, unemployment the highest in years, recession looms, etc - but, hey, let the party continue! Yes it's now "St Paddy's 5 Days" over here - Ireland's National Holiday, St. Patrick's Day, now runs from March 13th to 17th! Enjoy!

Ireland is going from one extreme to another - Boom to bust! With so few people now buying property in Ireland, instead waiting to see how much more prices will drop, the whole building scene in Ireland has slowed dramatically . The Live Register figures for January, just published, by the Central Statistics Office show a continuing increase in unemployment numbers during February. Many of these new unemployed are former Construction Industry workers. The numbers on Social Welfare, in Ireland, are now highest for the last eight years at 5.2%. Meanwhile SIPTU has rejected a request by the Construction Industry Federation for a 12-month pay freeze and a 30% cut in entry rates for construction workers. Perhaps this would have helped things?

Acconding to a new report, by the Central Bank of Ireland, Mortgage growth in Ireland has now hit a new 14yr low! Surpise, surprise!!!