Daft Property - Irish Property News

Rates wipe out benefits of decline in house prices... BENEFITS to first-time buyers from drastic falls in property prices are wiped out by sharp increases in mortgage costs, new research shows. House prices have dived by 40pc since 2007, which means potential buyers would need a much smaller mortgage. But a series of mortgage-rate hikes by all lenders mean that the cost of servicing even a small mortgage has shot up. Mortgage expert Karl Deeter accused banks of capturing most of the gains for potential buyers of lower prices by pushing up mortgage costs. Mr Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers looked at the cost of a 30-year mortgage for a €350,000 house at the top of the housing bubble in 2007. At that time buyers would have been able to get a good value tracker set at 1pc above the ECB rate. This would mean a borrowing rate of 2.25pc. The monthly repayments for this mortgage at the moment work out at €1,337, without factoring in mortgage tax relief. Mr Deeter said that th...

Only a miracle can save financial system from complete meltdown... MICHAEL Noonan talks the talk, but last Wednesday the only walking he did was backwards. It confirms that the EU is running the show. The light we saw flicker at the end of the tunnel has been blown out and is unlikely to be rekindled any time soon. The new Government had an opportunity to deliver on its election promises. It failed abysmally on one of the key issues. It didn't renegotiate the EU/IMF deal to withhold repayments to the senior bondholders, as promised. It might have been shot down in flames had it persisted with this approach. But it would have preserved its credibility at home. Its proposed bank reorganisation is a whitewash, and only intended to distract us from the cover-up of what is going on at the highest level in Europe. This is not totally unexpected, but it is very disappointing. Weeks before the general election Pat Rabbitte and Simon Coveney said, on separate occasions, that protectin...

Over 77,000 now behind on mortgage or rental bills. Figure twice previous estimate... AT LEAST 77,500 households are in arrears on their mortgages and rent payments. This is more than twice previous estimates of the numbers of people struggling to keep a roof over their heads. It is a clear sign that the country is now gripped by a mortgage and rental crisis, experts said. Also, one in five households are struggling to pay credit card bills, credit union loans and overdrafts. Higher-income families are more likely to owe money to credit card companies and to be overdrawn. The major study of incomes and living standards by the Central Statistics Office indicates that thousands of homeowners and those who rent are so deep in debt that many are at risk of losing their homes. The frightening figures underscore the mortgage misery in the country and stress the need for a rescue scheme for heavily indebted families, mortgage experts said. However, a leading economist said last night the arre...

Home debt-trap hits 340,000... Massive rise in borrowers caught in negative equity AS many as 340,000 people could now be in negative equity following a sharp fall in house prices. New research which reveals up to a third of a million people owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth is considerably higher than recent estimates that found 250,000 homeowners were in negative equity. Being in negative equity means you cannot switch mortgages for a better deal, fund a move to a larger home to start a family, or move house to take a job somewhere else. Economist with property website Daft.ie Ronan Lyons has calculated that 340,000 people, or one in five homes, are now in this predicament. "That's 340,000 homes where if the homeowners have to sell, they will not be able to pay the bank back solely through the money they get from selling the house," Mr Lyons said on his blog site (ronanlyons.wordpress.com). The findings are broadly in line with a survey by Amarach ...

More good news today? (...well for hopeful home buyers anyway!) Irish House prices look set to fall by at least 5pc in 2008. This is according to Austin Hughes (an IIB group Homeloans economist,) during a presentation on the housing market outlook in Ireland for 2008. He also added..."The housing slowdown has been a good bit more severe than I had anticipated."