Daft Property - Irish Property News

HOUSE prices could decline by another 20pc from their current levels while variable rates are due to go up again, an international agency has warned. And ongoing rises in mortgage arrears mean borrowers in this country are effectively on strike, credit ratings agency Fitch said. But despite this, there is likely to be a moderate rise in lending to first-time buyers this year. The agency, in a report on the global mortgage market, said property prices here could fall as much as 20pc, but it has assumed a 10pc decrease. Since the bursting of the property bubble, prices have dropped by 50pc, to take the average value to €160,000. Another 20pc fall would take the average price nationally to €128,000. The agency, which rates the economic solidity of countries and companies, said there were signs that prices have stabilised, but a glut of unoccupied properties outside the cities and muted mortgage lending meant price rises were likely to be limited this year. The number of

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