Daft Property - Irish Property News

Revealed: huge inequity in rural/city property tax... Small apartments in capital will be charged more than rural 'mansions' THE gross inequity of Finance Minister Michael Noonan's property tax is today laid bare as it has emerged Dubliners on the lowest rung of the property ladder will pay higher property tax than the owners of large four-bedroom homes across rural Ireland. One-bed apartment owners in the golden triangle of south county Dublin will be forced to pay on average €315 in property tax, higher or equal than that paid by the owners of large detached houses in 19 other counties outside the capital, a Sunday Independent national property survey published today reveals. The figures have reignited angry calls this weekend from within Fine Gael to have the terms and scope of the property tax amended in the Finance Bill to address the "injustice inflicted on the people of Dublin". Dublin South TD Olivia Mitchell said: "What is happening is th

The term ghost estates colloquially refers to the list of 2,000 unfinished housing developments  compiled by the Department of the Environment. Dublin doesn’t do too badly in the 2011 rankings with 95 estates identified in the city council area, compared to 149 in neighbouring Fingal. The other two Dublin councils also returned quite positive figures; Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has 60 unfinished developments and South Dublin County Council 50. It’s clear the capital has escaped lightly when some of the numbers recorded in sparsely populated counties are considered. Sligo has 237 unfinished developments, Roscommon has 235. Dublin also has a low number of estates considered the most problematic. These are the developments where residents’ living conditions are such that they are not required to pay the household charge, generally where the developer has abandoned the unfinished estate. Only 19 estates in the city council area are on this list. Elm Park was on the depa

THE CHOICE of investment properties available to Irish and overseas buyers is steadily increasing with the launch today of a marketing campaign for an entire development of 62 apartments and penthouses next to the North Circular Road entrance to the Phoenix Park in Dublin 7. David Browne of agent HT Meagher O’Reilly is seeking €9 million for the high quality scheme which was completed 12 years ago by Tony Gannon’s Unicorn Homes. The investment will show a net yield of 7.78 per cent. The broad mix of apartments in Park Lodge are fully occupied and are producing a rent roll of €823,000 per annum. The location has proved extremely popular from the start – beside the Phoenix Park and five minutes walk from the Luas at Heuston Station which travels past the Four Courts to the city centre. The five-storey apartment block is also a few hundred yards from the newly-built Criminal Courts of Justice on Infirmary Road. Park Lodge was developed on the site of the old Park Lodge Hotel, onc

Russians ride in to rescue Irish apartments in Bulgaria... UP TO 50 Irish-owned apartments in Bulgaria have been bought by Russian property prospectors in the first six months of this year, a Dublin-based property business has said. An estimated 30,000 Irish citizens currently sit on more than €1bn of bad property investments in Bulgaria. Dylan Cullen, head of Appreciating Assets, said growing demand from the former Soviet country for the Bulgarian resorts means Irish people are finally able to offload their unwanted properties. Since the peak of the Bulgarian property-buying frenzy, from 2005 to 2008, Black Sea prices have fallen by between 35pc and 45pc, depending on location. But the Russians and Ukrainians, the two biggest buyer groups, have formed a view that this market looks to be near the bottom. Buyers are back looking at the Black Sea for holiday homes. "The Russians are becoming wealthier and as their middle class expands they want holiday homes," said Mr Cullen.

Allsop Space Auction Venue - 6th July 2012 The Shelbourne Hotel Dublin 2 Start Times Single Session Auctioneer’s Announcements 10.45 a.m. Lot 1 not before 11.00 a.m. Lot     Type     Location     Reserve Price will not exceed this figure 1    Investment Flat    Dublin 2    €135,000 2    Investment Flat    Galway City    €120,000 3    Investment Flat    Malahide    €75,000 4    Vacant Freehold House    Killiney    €95,000 5    Vacant Freehold House    Galway City    €50,000 6    Investment Freehold House    Newbridge    €30,000 7    Land/Site    Gort    €27,150 8    Investment Flat    Dublin 8    €75,000 9    Vacant Freehold House    Mountshannon    €40,000 10    Vacant Freehold Building    Moville    €45,000 11    Investment Freehold Building    Wicklow    €100,000 12    Land    Castlemaine    €50,000 13    Vacant Freehold House    Bunclody    €35,000 14    Vacant Flat    Bundoran    €17,500 15    Vacant Flat    Cratloe    €75,000 16    Vacant Freehold Building    W

Auctioneers to sell 14-house ghost estate in Co Kerry for just €50,000... DEPENDING on how deep your pockets are, you can pick up a ghost estate of 14 houses for only €50,000 or a Georgian House for €1m in the Allsop Space auction next month. A total of 90 properties are available at the event on July 6. Another unusual property on offer is Whites Castle, Athy, Co Kildare, a 15th century castle in the centre of the town, which also has a €50,000 guide price. The auctioneers are hoping to raise about €8m from the auction, which is below the €13m it achieved in its last auction in May. But then there are fewer lots this time and less valuable commercial properties. The ghost estate was conceived as a multi-million holiday home development at a pivotal point on Kerry's tourist trail. The 14-house lot at Annagh Banks in Castlemaine, Co Kerry, is about to be auctioned for only €50,000. It will be the first time that Allsop Space will include a full ghost estate as one lot at auction.

Dublin apartment prices now down 62pc, says CSO THE house prices freefall has worsened, with some properties now up to 62pc cheaper than at the height of the boom five years ago. February alone saw one of the largest single monthly falls on record - 2.2pc, a figure surpassed only during two months in spring 2009. Apartments in Dublin are worst hit by the crash, while the overall fall in the value of all properties in the capital is now up to 57pc. The Central Statistics Office also warned that in the last 12 months prices have come down by 17.8pc. That is compared to a 10.8% fall in the year to February 2011. A breakdown of the Residential Property Price Index since the slump hit exactly five years ago showed: - Nationally, the crash has wiped 49pc off values; - Houses in Dublin are down 56pc but apartments 62pc - Outside of the capital, prices are down 45pc on average. Although the CSO does not give actual prices, houses in Dublin were believed to be worth about €43

92% of lots sold by Allsop... THE BIDDING was brisk at the Allsop Space auction of mostly distressed property in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel yesterday, as 1,600 people packed into the auction room and spilled out into the bar and lobby of the hotel. A total of 97 of the 108 properties sold under the hammer with a further two selling after auction, raising a total of €11.4 million. Around half were cash buyers – 30 per cent less than at previous auctions. A small group of protesters from a group calling themselves the Anti-Eviction Taskforce held a low-key protest outside the hotel. However proceedings came to a brief halt when one protester stood up in front of the auctioneer and warned about the “ill will” that could affect buyers of distressed property in communities. “Don’t bid then,” replied auctioneer Gary Murphy from UK-based Allsop, before thanking the protestor for his “kind words”. Around a third of the lots are apartments, and one of the bargains of the auction was a

The property dilemma -- to sit tight or cut your losses? It's a dilemma hitting thousands -- especially young couples living in apartments. What do they do -- sell now or hold on? Many of them were frightened on to the bottom rung of the property ladder and now find themselves in a home which is too small for their needs. They are asking themselves if they should take the hit on negative equity, and buy a house which can accommodate a growing family. And even if they do, where will they get the money to buy another property? A few years ago, many had held on in the hope of a soft landing, but now are wondering whether they should bite the bullet and jump. Already price falls of 40pc to 50pc have made family houses much more affordable. However, many couples who sell an apartment that they bought in the boom could find that the sale price is far less than the amount they owe to the bank. Banks are slow to allow them to sell, trade up and carry over the negative equit

FIRST, some good news. The fall in house prices might be accelerating, but vacancy rates in Dublin are falling. Estate agents Savills have published figures claiming that the number of unoccupied houses in the capital had fallen from 11,000 in March 2010 to just 5,400. According to Savills, people who are unable to sell their houses are successfully renting them instead. The Savills' figures support the findings of last April's census which showed that the proportion of vacant houses in Dublin and the surrounding counties, at 10pc or less, is much lower than elsewhere in the country -- for example over 30pc in Co Leitrim. Despite this chink of positive news, it's back to business as usual for our stricken property market. The latest house-price figures from the CSO weren't bad, they were catastrophic. After a few months during which it seemed as if the worst might be over, house prices plunged by 1.6pc in August and by 13.9pc over the past 12 month. The situ

Write-offs and negative-equity loans already on offer -- just don't tell everyone The debate about debt forgiveness has raged across the nation, polarising public opinion. Laura Noonan investigates what banks are really doing to help struggling homeowners. It might surprise people to know that some banks have been embarking on forms of mortgage write-offs for quite some time. And that's not all that's been going on -- some of the other new-fangled "solutions" expected to be recommended by the Government's latest mortgage expert group, like negative-equity mortgages, are already in action, too. The reason the public don't know about these developments is simple -- the banks don't want the masses to know. Because as soon as you admit things like this are happening, you run the risk that everyone will want a piece of the action. The action so far has largely been limited to borrowers who've actually left their home by way of "volu

COUNTRY buyers with cash in their pockets have been trawling Dublin for homes for their college-bound children in the past few weeks – and many will be closing on deals next week, when CAO offers come out. But with the property market in the state it’s in, there’s a lot on offer that could interest investors, ranging from a city centre two-bedroom apartment in the appropriately named College Gate development near Trinity for €190,000 to an eight-bedroom guest-house in Ranelagh for €735,000. Buying a house or apartment to house one or more third-level offspring is cheaper than paying rents – if you don’t have to borrow – especially as prices continue to fall in the city while rents have stabilised, according to the latest Daft report. However, Moneycoach.ie’s Frank Conway sounds a cautionary note about investing in property for your student children: if you don’t have the cash to pay for it “the chances of securing finance is very, very low” he says. “This will rule the majority

Nama proposes negative equity scheme... Nama is proposing a deferred payment scheme to protect property buyers against the risk of negative equity in an attempt to kick-start the property market. The agency wants to introduce a scheme where Nama would waive 20 per cent of the purchase price on one of its 8,000 Irish residential properties after five years if the property were to fall further in value. Customers will deal with the banks on the scheme and will have no engagement with Nama. Chairman Frank Daly said the agency was in talks with the Minister for Finance and the Department of the Environment about the agency’s proposals. “We are teasing this through. We want to analyse the full impact of it and we would hope to make an announcement early after the summer,” he said at the launch of the agency's 010 annual report. The State loans agency, set up to take the most toxic assets out of the banking system, has loans on its books linked to 12,000 houses and apartments

NAMA fire sales aim to breathe life back into market... Thousands chase property at knockdown prices as NAMA puts houses, farms, pubs and apartments up for sale. BARGAIN hunters came out in force yesterday after bad bank NAMA put nearly 1,000 properties up for sale in the largest single sell-off in the history of the State. The prospect of picking up a farm, pub, quarry, three-bed semi, hotel, apartment -- even an airport -- sparked an unprecedented wave of interest within hours of the list being published. NAMA chiefs even promised to finance some of the sales as the agency announced losses of €1.18bn on dealings for last year. It also revealed the extent to which NAMA is to recover money from reluctant debtors. In one case -- and as late as this week -- it seized jewellery worth €200,000 that had been given to a developer's partner. NAMA bosses insisted they were not running a fire sale and kept asking prices and bids received a closely guarded secret last night. Bu

Building ban on rezoned land leaves taxpayer with huge bill... THE taxpayer will be forced to pick up the tab as councils ban housing on massive banks of land -- bought for billions by property speculators at the height of the boom. The value of development sites has plummeted by more than 90pc, after councils rezoned land which is no longer needed for housing. The Irish Independent has learned that 12 of the country's 34 local authorities have already dezoned or banned development on lands. The remainder will do so by the end of the year, under a radical shake-up of planning system countrywide. But the move will have serious implications for taxpayers. Banks lent billions for speculative deals on those lands which have since collapsed -- with the State now forced to pick up the bill. Housing will now no longer be allowed to be built on 8,000 hectares previously earmarked for development in 12 local authorities alone. At the height of the boom, this land could have sold f

Zonning frenzy brought us down - and made us finally see sense... THE maps would arrive in their hundreds, each accompanied by a letter urging the council to rezone the highlighted land for housing. "When a review of a development plan started, and people saw the notices in the paper, that's when the race started," one insider said. Everyone with a few acres believed their land was ripe for a few houses or apartments. And for the most part, city and county councillors obliged, zoning more than 44,000 hectares of land for housing, even though there was need for only a fraction of that. Eventually the State was awash with unfinished developments and NAMA found itself lumped with €73bn of land and development loans. We've finally come full circle, and are in the middle of moving to a system whereby land will only be earmarked for housing when there is clear evidence there will be enough people to live there. Every council in the country has been told to int

Ballsbridge home for under €400,000 in distressed auction... Developer and landlord David Grant will see his former home on Haddington Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 go under the hammer for less than €400,000, a quarter of its original asking price, at the Allsop/Space auction of distressed properties next month. Number 61 Haddington Road failed to sell at auction in 2006 with an advised minimum value of €1.6 million, but now it’s likely to be sold for about a quarter of the price next month. The mid-terrace building is being auctioned ‘‘on the instructions of the mortgagee in possession’’ with a reserve not to exceed €395,000, according to the auction catalogue. Grant’s former home is situated on the south side of Haddington Road, just off Baggot Street. The accommodation is arranged over lower ground, raised ground and first floors beneath a pitched roof. Internally it’s arranged as two-self contained residential units. It is being sold with vacant possession. In October 200

Property prices continue to slide... House prices in Dublin have fallen nearly 50 per cent since their peak in 2007, the Central Statistics Office has said. According to the CSO’s Residential Property Price Index, house prices in the capital are 46 per cent lower than 2007, while apartment prices have fallen 53 per cent since their high in February 2007. Nationally, residential property prices fell by 1 per cent in the month of April. This compares with a decline of 1.7 per cent recorded in March. The index, which looks at property on a national level, shows residential property prices throughout the rest of the country are 36 per cent lower than their highest level in 2007. Overall, the national index is 40 per cent lower than its highest level in 2007. Dublin apartment prices fell by 1.8 per cent in the month of April and were 14.1 per cent lower when compared with the same month of 2010, while house prices fell 0.7 per cent and were 12.6 per cent lower compared to a year e

Distressed property auction by Savills... AROUND 100 distressed investment properties, mainly in the greater Dublin area, are to be auctioned on a single day in September. The move by Savills Ireland to kick-start both the residential and commercial investment markets is expected to generate sales of over €20 million. Ronan O’Driscoll, of Savills Ireland, said most buyers at the September 29th auction were likely to be cash-rich investors happy to put their money into property now that values had fallen sharply. In the past, investors banked on capital appreciation but it was now all about rental return and in many cases buyers could expect yields of 9 to 10 per cent compared to 3.5 per cent on bank deposits. The announcement that Savills will be staging Ireland’s “biggest ever property auction” comes after last month’s successful auction of distressed properties in Dublin by British auctioneer Allsops and its Irish affiliate Space. They sold 80 of the 81 lots in a packed Shelb

Allsop plans five fire sales a year... THE UK auction house Allsop and its Irish affiliate Space plans to hold up to five distressed property auctions a year following the success of its first auction last Friday when 81 out of 82 lots were sold for a total of €15 million. The next auction is scheduled for July 7th, when 200 lots will be auctioned, including apartments, tenanted shops, farms and houses. According to Space director Stephen McCarthy, his company is being inundated with requests from receivers, banks and individuals who want to sell their property fast. Many of the properties in Friday’s auction were sold by Bank of Scotland Ireland and it’s believe there is plenty more of this stock to sell. These include apartments in the Castleforbes development in the Dublin docklands, as well as units in Dublin 8 and in Castleknock. However, the agency is also considering taking on more agricultural land. One lot, a 55 acre farm in Co Wickow sold particularly well, making €42