Daft Property - Irish Property News

The next Allsop Space Auction will take place on 1st March 2012... Venue: The Shelbourne Hotel Dublin 2 Online Catalogue: Lot     Type     Location     Reserve Price will not exceed this figure 1    Investment Flat    Dublin 1    €135,000 2    Investment Flat    Dublin 8    €120,000 3    Investment Leasehold House    Galway City    €75,000 4    Investment Flat    Dublin 8    €90,000 5    Vacant Freehold House    Drogheda    €100,000 6    Vacant Freehold House    Enniscrone    €55,000 7    Vacant Freehold House    Dingle    €50,000 8    Investment Flat    Dublin 1    €175,000 9 ...

Figures dispel myth that we're top home buyers in Europe... HOME ownership in Ireland is in line with the average in the European Union -- debunking the myth that home ownership here is among the highest in the EU. The Spanish, Greeks, Portuguese and people in a host of former Eastern Bloc states all have higher ownership levels than Ireland, figures obtained by the Irish Independent show. Some 74pc of Irish people own their own home. This is in line with the average for the 27 members of the EU. Ireland ranks 18th in home ownership levels out of 31 countries looked by the the EU statistics agency Eurostat. The figures are for 2009, the latest available. The highest home ownership is in Romania (96pc), followed by Lithuania (91pc), Hungary (89pc), Slovakia (89pc), Estonia (87pc), Latvia (87pc), Bulgaria (87pc), Norway (85pc), Iceland (84pc), Spain (83pc), Slovenia (81pc), Malta (79pc), Czech Republic (77pc) and Greece (76pc). Ireland comes in at 73.7pc, while 70pc of pe...

Thousands facing a future living in unfinished estates... TENS of thousands of homeowners face the prospect of living in unfinished estates for the foreseeable future. Construction bosses admitted yesterday that incomplete developments may never be finished. Cash-strapped builders can't get loans to tidy off their estates and now heavily mortgaged families will be forced to remain there without proper roads, footpaths, green spaces and public lights. Former president of An Taisce Eanna Ni Lamhna, who is still an active member, told the Irish Independent that the state's heritage body had long warned of the effect of half-built houses on the landscape. "It doesn't give me any pleasure to say that if they'd listened to An Taisce, we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now with all these houses," she said. "I must say that we've been saying for years that it was too much too soon. I was told that I was against development and we were against ev...

Families set to be ‘robbed’ of their homes... AN avalanche of repossessions "robbing" cash-strapped families of their homes will follow the creation of NAMA, opposition leaders have warned. Fine Gael and Labour joined forces to plead with Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to launch a rescue lifeline package for people falling behind with mortgages as the controversial NAMA legislation was pushed through the Dáil. Labour finance spokesperson Joan Burton predicted "reckless lenders" were only holding off on going after families in financial difficulties until they had secured the €54bn deal from the State to take toxic developer loans off their hands. "Ordinary families will be leeched by the banks and building societies as soon as they get the NAMA money. They pushed money at people at the height of the boom and now will go after them to get it back." Ms Burton said a 24-month moratorium should be extended to householders with problems who were trying to deal ...

Negative equity hits €43,000 as average debt soars to €130,000... Report paints grim picture of economy... THE collapse in the housing market has left the average household sitting on €43,000 of negative equity. A borrowing frenzy during the boom means Irish households are now nursing debt levels which are the fifth highest in the developed world. The average household owes €230,000 on its mortgage alone, excluding credit card, personal loans and other debts. These figures have emerged from calculations based on a new report on the economy from Goodbody Stockbrokers. Goodbody's Dermot O'Leary estimates that the bursting of the housing bubble has sent house prices down by 40pc from their peak in February 2007. This means the average house in the State is now worth around €187,000. There are 640,000 households with a mortgage, and the average household is sitting on negative equity estimated at €43,000, calculations based on the Goodbody report by the Irish Independent show. The ...

NAMA ‘won’t solve developer problems’... THE property, development and construction sectors will not be served by a functioning bank post-NAMA, unless the proposed legislation is amended to provide access to sufficient working capital for new and viable projects, the Construction Industry Federation has said. Following a meeting of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) members yesterday director general Tom Parlon outlined serious reservations they have with the whole NAMA scheme. "The entire NAMA project is predicated on the need to get liquidity flowing again to support the normal economic life of the country, protect jobs and give people a renewed sense of confidence in our collective futures. "As more details emerge, however, there is a growing sense that NAMA could have the opposite effect by essentially freezing working capital for construction employers and adding to the sense of uncertainty and paralysis that has permeated all aspects of the economy since April’s...

Brian, please find the nearest exit... As Leinster House twitters about FF talks with the Greens, we've already hit rock-bottom... WE DO not mean to be hurtful but even as they agonised, held hands, rubbed worry beads and emoted, the Green debate was utterly irrelevant to the realities we face. You see, the truth of the matter is that the Republic is now in such 'a state of chassis' it almost does not matter who governs us. Central bankers, economists from stockbroking houses and the political class may dodge and weave but the ongoing pantomime of politics as it is practised in Leinster House cannot hide one fundamental truth. Ireland is at the edge of an economic ground zero-style scenario , Mr Cowen, and frankly, I do not know how you or, more importantly, the rest of us are going to get out of it. Lest you be in any way unclear as to what we mean we'll simplify it for you. The Exchequer is now as solvent as a Liam Carroll company whilst our citizens, thanks to your p...

Builders? You can afford them now... JUST WHEN the construction industry thought the news couldn’t get any worse, it suddenly did. Several reports published this week have painted a bleak picture for an industry already on its knees after the property sector meltdown ... They indicate that prices for big and small construction jobs have fallen almost as dramatically as jobless numbers in the sector have risen. Although homeowners will have sympathy for individual tradesmen who have lost their jobs, they will relish the consequential price drops and the sudden availability of tilers, plumbers and carpenters who could not be got for love nor ridiculous sums of money at the height of the boom. “Builders were making money hand over fist for years and even at a 30 per cent discount they are still making money and don’t let anyone tell you any different,” one industry source unsympathetic to the plight of builders told The Irish Times this week. The Construction Industry Federation stoutly r...

Fears raised over stamp duty issue... REACTION: ESTATE AGENTS fear the struggling second-hand housing market may well grind to a halt after the disclosure that stamp duty may be abolished and replaced with an annual property tax. The Government will be under pressure to clarify whether it plans to implement proposals by the Commission on Taxation in the December budget, having already signalled that it it may not proceed with the property tax. Buyers who may be tempted by heavily discounted prices in second-hand houses will be reluctant to make commitments until the stamp duty issue is clarified. The report comes at a time when house sales were beginning to pick up at the opening of the autumn selling season. However, agents last night warned that activity could cease until the Government indicated whether it would proceed with the taxation changes. The Irish Auctioneers Valuers Institute (IAVI), which represents about 1,700 estate agents, last night urged Minister for Finance Brian Le...

Property: making a move... With house prices set to fall even further, it's no surprise that most buyers are sitting on the fence. But for those who have no choice but to bite the bullet, think long-term... All the available data and commentary on the domestic property market suggests the continuing fall in prices still has some way to go, so it's no surprise that the majority of potential buyers are still opting to "sit on the fence". But the Irish Banking Federation (IBF) recently reported a 9pc rise in new mortgage lending in the second quarter of 2009 when compared with the first three months of the year. But with new lending still 7pc lower than in the same period last year, the IBF said it was too early to say if the market had turned a corner. Karl Deeter, of Irish Mortgage Brokers, reports an increase in applications and numbers of loans because of recent price falls. "We had felt for some time that price drops would come fast once the realisation about t...

Recession wipes €72,250 off value of the average home... HOUSE prices plunged another 1pc in July, bringing the total wiped off the value of the average home since the height of the property market to €72,250. New figures show house prices fell by 1.1pc in July, bringing the drop over the previous 12 months to 12.5pc. The annual fall in prices in June was 11.7pc. The average price for a house nationally in July was €238,828, compared with €311,078 in February 2007, when property prices peaked. Prices are now down 24pc since February 2007, according to the Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index. Permanent TSB's Niall O'Grady admitted that the property market had remained sluggish throughout the summer, with low levels of activity. He said that despite lower interest rates and improved affordability, consumer confidence needed to pick up before there could be any increase in activity. "It will definitely be a buyers' market for the coming months." Permanent TSB admitt...

25,000 families now face losing their homes FEAR: No more breathing space on mortgages... UP TO 25,000 home owners face the chilling prospect of having their homes repossessed because they have fallen significantly behind on mortgage repayments. Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P), which has a 25pc share of the home mortgage market, has confirmed that 6,122 loans are now three months or more in arrears and it is estimated that up to another 20,000 mortgage holders with other lending institutions are in a similar position. Under the State bailout arrangement, banks had agreed to give all mortgage customers one year's breathing space before repossessing. But, for many, that deadline is now imminent. New legal orders coming in to effect on October 1 will make it easier for District Courts to grant uncontested repossessions, which is likely to increase the number of homes being taken over by banks. Under the same act, contested repossession cases will be heard in the Circuit Court ra...

We're facing worst crisis in history of State... FORMER president Mary Robinson yesterday warned the Government that the country is in the grip of possibly the worst crisis in the history of the State. She bluntly told the country's leaders that a lack of a vision of ourselves "lies at the heart of the crises we face" and warned that it was vital that example now come from the top and that the vulnerable be protected. The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights yesterday became the first former president to deliver the General Michael Collins oration at Beal na mBlath in west Cork. Her speech centred on the scale of the crisis facing Ireland and how those in positions of power should deal with it. "Challenges of this magnitude demand not only detailed solutions but a comprehensive vision of what sort of society we want to see emerge from our current difficulties. "The likelihood is that, in the absence of a vision of our future which enjoys broad suppor...

Thousands seeking help as debts surge... THE number of people turning to a Government money advice service to save themselves from financial ruin will double this year. In response, the Government has been forced to hire a new team of advisers to bolster the under-staffed Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS). Despite the public sector recruitment ban, the Department of Finance has given the green light for a team of new recruits. The extent of indebtedness emerged as it was revealed that up to 500 ESB and Bord Gais customers were being disconnected every month because they could not afford to pay their bills. Stark new Department of Social and Family Affairs figures reveal: * The MABS helpline received more than 12,200 calls in the first six months of 2009. This compares with almost 11,000 for all of last year. * MABS staff have been visited by almost 10,000 new clients -- owing an average of €15,100 -- since the beginning of the year. * The vast majority of the debt (65p...

Rise and fall of the Tiger nouveau riche... NOW THAT we’re in an economic war zone, I’ve been thinking about the Economic War. As my family was a direct victim of that conflict, I was reared with a rather one-sided view of the times that went beyond the abstract account in history books... My great-grandfather retired from a successful medical career and bought land in Meath which he farmed profitably. He must have done well because my grandfather was educated privately in England and in a literal manifestation of his position in society there was even a family pew in the upstairs gallery of the rural parish church. All went well until Éamon de Valera, the most pernicious and malign figure in Irish history, in a fit of ideological insanity implemented a set of policies that cut off our country’s only export market – England – for our only product – food – and thus crippled Ireland’s economy and in the process permanently ruined that class of people to which the now poor Dr Carey belong...

Vendors still slow to lose belief in the hype... I WANTED to get away from nasty estate agents, houses containing load bearing dank and breathe the pure, fresh air of New York for a few days. The problem is that fresh air exists here like a Green Party first preference vote and the only other option to going outside and choking to death is sucking in a lungful of legionnaire’s disease in the hotel air conditioning system. Worse still, the search for a new home is stalking me at every given turn. America is the home of the property bubble and ensuing credit crunch. This is, if you will, the San Andreas Fault of finance, to our San Francisco. When I mention we’re living 60 miles from work, group therapy ensues, as people mention their own horror stories, of getting up at stupid o’clock and travelling via Neptune to get to work. House prices pop up in otherwise pleasant chit chat – a topic only slightly cruder than making fart jokes in front of the pope – and someone will describe how ho...

We will have to pay for excesses of the past... RECENT economic reports have a hint of desperation about them as they struggle to suggest the battered economy will revive in two years time. The bit between 2009 and 2010 is being glossed over, as the economy is expected to plunge to its worst recession ever in modern history . If it’s true, the 9-10% fall in output this year is from a high base and even if growth reverts back to 2005 levels then that would be no bad thing. That was the year before we built a record 96,000 houses and employment doubled towards 2 million over a 10-year period. That’s all positive, but the reality check still has to kick in. One report from West Cork suggests house prices in some areas are in desperate trouble. One source has reported that 10 houses built in 2007, achieved prices of €400,000, some bought with €390,000 mortgages. But as the market tanked, unsold houses were bought for €180,000, leaving many in negative equity territory. It is also a fact th...

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 ...

Collapse in house prices will be good for economy... Many people in recent weeks have tried to explain what is happening to the economy. How can we visualise why credit has dried up? How do we rationalise the fact that we went from a situation of so much money we didn't know what to do with it, to a situation of no cash at all? Where did it all go? One interesting way to look at this, and this column has used it before, is to think of events in the natural world. Think of the aerial photos of the Serengeti at the beginning of the annual rainy season. What was a parched arid climate where nothing grows suddenly become florid, verdant and full of life. Animals, flowers insects flourish and the place is abuzz. We see migrating wildebeest, crocs and birds and then, at the height of the season, the whole plain is crackling with energy, fuelled by that most precious of commodities, water. Then as the seasons change, the water begins to evaporate. Life disappears from the edges of the pla...

Take a long look at the chart below. Digest it. Maybe look again if you have to. This happened in the most sophisticated economy in the world. This is what happened to the price of development land in Japan. Prices roared upwards and then collapsed, ending up below where they started at the beginning at the boom. This is likely to happen here; development land is likely to settle back to 1996 prices. We haven’t seen the half of it yet . When we hear some property lads talking about green shoots, this chart should be enough to tell them to snap out of it. But we can’t seem to snap out of it. We are still caught in the trap. We seem to believe that the price of houses and land will miraculously rise again some time soon. This will not happen. It can’t and shouldn’t. In fact, houses prices are likely to fall another 50 per cent from here before we see anything like the bottom. International comparisons bear out these forecasts. Until now, many Irish people have clung to the myth of what ...