Daft Property - Irish Property News

Public to ignore recession with festive spending... IRISH shoppers will spend twice as much as their European counterparts on presents, food and socialising this Christmas despite the recession. Households will fork out an average of €1,110 during the festive season – almost double the €600 that will be spent in Europe. This is despite shoppers saying they will spend 30% less on gifts, 6% less on food and 22% less on socialising this Christmas, according to figures compiled by accountancy firm Deloitte. Irish people plan to spend three times more on socialising than those in Germany and Italy this Christmas. An average of €180 per household will be spent at pubs and restaurants, which is the highest spend in Europe. In an attempt to lure shoppers, retailers said they plan to begin their sales earlier than ever this year, according to chief executive of Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) David Fitzsimons. "You’ll find a lot of nervous retailers out there who are keen to convert stock ...

Crazy to sell in a buyer's market? If you are considering selling property but are afraid it might be neither nor viable nor sensible at this time, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover that there is a market out there – you just have to know your audience and what appeals to them... If you have a property that you are keen to sell, you may be debating the wisdom of doing so at a time when prices are dipping and so many others are holding back, but though it may feel like a lonely and risky path to take now, you would not be the only person in the country doing it. "We're seeing a mix of people selling at the moment," says Gillian Flanagan of Felicity Fox Auctioneers in Dublin. "We have a lot of people trading up, particularly young families with children who have outgrown the space they're in, people who need to move because their employment has changed location and people from different countries who are moving home. At the same time, a lot of people ...

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...

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...

According to a new report from Britain's Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Ireland's house market was the worst performer in Europe for 2007!

Ireland Property - Daft Property! "There are two tellings to every story"... Story 1 is the average punters view: House prices in Ireland are dropping dramatically..."For Sale" signs are springing up everywhere like some prolific new species (albeit genetically modified .) The buy property and become rich fantasy is fading fast into the mists, like so many other myths and legends. For some negative equity is now a reality. The building industry is crumbling. Unemployment rising. Repossessions increasing... Story 2 is the vested interests view: The Irish property market is only adjusting slightly...There's no need for panic...The prices drops are good for homeowners as they will produce a more balanced and stable market. There's now good value for buyers etc. "A little of anything isn't worth a pin; but a wee bit of sense is worth a lot"... Property Bubble? The Irish property market has enjoyed unprecedented growth every year since 1993. To sta...