Daft Property - Irish Property News

We're being seduced by property porn again – will we ever learn? LAST week the "glossy brigade" was out in force. Papers were full of bright, impossibly blue skies, over "imposing" homes many of which "boasted" this feature or that attribute. Yes, the glossy brigade, Ireland's property pornographers, who pedal lifestyle fetishes to the middle classes are back at a newspaper close to you. Amazingly, just six years after a property crash, which destroyed much of the economy, chatter about house prices appears to be back, or at least, out of social quarantine. Any day soon, expect a new TV programme on house hunting, the joys of home makeovers or the allure of trading up. Why do we allow ourselves to be taken in by this nonsense? Every spring since the crash, the estate agents and the property industry have tried to re-launch the property market with puff pieces, hard selling and gimmicks. Yet underneath the hype, the evidence from the hous...

House prices go into reverse as property register takes guesswork out of buying... HOUSE prices fell last month in a move that reverses rises in the previous three months. The fall of 0.6pc in October means that prices have now risen in five of the 10 months of this year so far.  The value of the average property in the State is now half of what it was during the peak in the market in 2007. Dublin prices were down 0.2pc in October, and are 7pc lower in the year so far. Residential property prices in the capital are 56pc lower than they were when the market was at its highest, according to the CSO index. Prices outside of Dublin were down 0.9pc last month, and are now down 47pc from the peak. Some property experts said the introduction of the new property price register in September prompted falls in prices, as people can now seen exactly what prices houses and apartments are selling for, rather than relying on estate agents. The average value of a property nationally...

New blow for house price hopes as market set to fall 60pc from 2007 peak... HOPES of property prices settling down have received a new blow, with a prediction that values will plunge by 60pc from the peak. Prices have already halved, but now credit ratings agency Fitch said they are set to keep falling. A fall of 60pc from 2007 would mean the average house price falling to €125,600 from €314,000 at the peak. There had been some optimism in the last few weeks that prices could be reaching a floor, particularly in Dublin. But the latest official figures show that property prices fell in June, dashing hopes that the market was close to stabilising. The fall of 1.1pc in prices in June recorded by the Central Statistics Office reversed a rise that was recorded in the previous month. Prices have halved from the peak of the market almost five years ago. The CSO figures indicate that the average home is now priced at €156,000, having collapsed to half of its value since the boom that came a...

Property price register pushed out until late September... THE LONG-AWAITED property price register, detailing the sale price of residential properties here, looks like it’s now going to miss its expected summer deadline. Despite being eagerly anticipated by estate agents, homeowners and buyers, and a recent call from the head of Nama to develop a commercial equivalent, the property price register has yet to materialise. So why the delay? The property price database first made the headlines in early 2010 and since then there has been much talk but little action. In December of last year, the register was provided for by legislation, and at the time, it was understood that the register would appear six months later. However, according to Tom Lynch, chief executive of the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA), the register was never going to be ready for June, despite this date being widely reported at the time. “I never said it was June,” he says, adding that the register was s...

Number of mortgages in arrears hits new peak of 14pc... ONE in seven mortgage holders is now in arrears, according to calculations by a leading ratings agency. Large numbers of these homeowners are understood to be avoiding getting into talks with their banks on restructuring their mortgages. Moody's also said house prices would fall another 20pc. The rating agency said its calculations show 14pc of residential mortgage holders are now in arrears, which works out at 107,000 households. This is a new peak, it said. Figures released by the Central Bank last month showed 10.2pc of mortgage holders were three months or more behind on their payments. "The steep decline in house prices since 2007 has placed the majority of borrowers deep into negative equity," it said. "Irish house prices have already fallen by 49.9pc between September 2007 and April 2012, and Moody's expects that house prices will fall a further 20pc from today's levels." Central Bank figu...

The legacy of the boom and the subsequent property collapse have come home to roost in 2012. This is the year the Nama deferred payment scheme was launched, a ghost estate was sold at a distressed property auction, and the country’s most expensive property failed to sell despite a 74 per cent price drop. Here are 10 properties that sum up where we are now ... 1. Walford, Shrewsbury Road Now that the madness of the property boom is a distant memory, it has become apparent that not only was Walford on Shrewsbury Road in Dublin 4 never worth the €58 million paid for it in 2005, it has failed to find a buyer for it, even at the radically reduced price of €15 million. The Edwardian house on 1.8 acres went on the market in September 2011 but was recently withdrawn, presumably because it failed to meet the guide price. When it was sold in 2005, the cachet of the road and the development potential drove rich individuals into a frenzy, pushing the price substantially ove...

NCB Stockbrokers said the price of buying a home will fall by at least a fifth in the years ahead as Ireland recovers "from the largest credit and housing bubble in OECD history". The Dublin-based broker calculated that the eventual national decline from peak to trough will be 60pc. Average prices have fallen 47pc so far which implies that prices must fall by at least another 20pc before hitting rock bottom. "The boost from domestic demand will not be material until 2013. Unemployment, currently 14.3pc, will remain above 10pc until 2016," NCB economist Brian Devine warned. "As such, there should be no surprise that property prices continue to decline, mortgage arrears continue to rise and retail sales remain weak," he said. Prices in Dublin have already fallen close to this amount with apartment prices in Dublin down 58pc and house prices in Dublin down 54pc. Mr Devine said he remains worried about the fundamentals underpinning the Irish economy but kept ...

HOUSE prices will keep falling for another two years and not bottom out until at least 2013, when the average price will have fallen by 60pc to €150,000. The latest prediction comes as National Irish Bank said it would raise its variable rates by up to 0.95pc next month. However, there are renewed hopes that the European Central Bank will signal a cut in eurozone interest rates when it meets tomorrow. A cut in ECB rates may help the collapsing housing market. Ireland is currently experiencing the most violent property crash in the western world. Over the last four years, prices have fallen by 45pc to leave the average asking price at €194,000, according to the latest Daft.ie house-price index. The Central Statistics Office puts the fall from peak at 43pc. Now it has been predicted that prices are set to fall for another two years with the average asking price to hit €150,000 before the market bottoms out, according to research by housing economist Ronan Lyons of Daft. Mr ...

Ireland’s property boom was the biggest, and our crash the most violent. In a week that brought news of a further drop in house prices, Economics Editor DAN O’BRIEN explains why the market won’t recover any time soon... ‘THE FUNDAMENTALS of the property market are sound, going forward.” This mantra was repeated constantly during the boom by those who believed that no risks were attached to soaring property prices. If any reminder was needed of how badly wrong this view was, it came this week with new official figures showing yet another fall in residential property prices in August. This, according to statisticians, brought the total decline since the property-price peak, in late 2007, to more than 43 per cent, one of the biggest drops in the world. The latest figures from the auctioneer Sherry FitzGerald, also published this week, are worse still, suggesting that average prices are down by a huge 58 per cent since the bubble burst. The belief that property was a one-way bet b...

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...

Coalition alarm at Nama property scheme... THERE IS concern within the Government that plans by the National Asset Management Agency to encourage the purchase of thousands of residential properties could artificially inflate the property market. The agency wants to introduce a scheme where it would waive 20 per cent of the purchase price of a home on its books if values were to fall further over the next five years. Nama has suggested the scheme could eventually apply to 5,000 houses and apartments. However, internal briefing material reveals fears within the Department of the Environment that the move would artificially inflate the market before it has hit bottom. It could also prevent homebuyers from realising their homeownership aspirations by preventing prices falling further. Nama is hoping to launch its "deferred purchase" scheme on a trial basis later this year by arranging the sale of about 750 homes. The agency does not need Government approval for the ...

House prices take another dive bringing annual collapse to 14pc... House prices took another nosedive towards the end of the summer, official figures have revealed. The cost of residential property fell 1.6pc in August taking the total collapse over the previous 12 months to 13.9pc. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said homes have fallen in value by 43pc since the peak of the market in early 2007. Over the last four years house prices in Dublin are down 48pc and apartments 57pc, while the fall in residential property prices outside the capital is about 40pc since the bubble burst. According to Conall Mac Coille, chief economist at Davy Stockbrokers, the prices are based on very low level transactions because mortgage lending remains weak. “So falling prices reflect distressed vendors being forced to sell despite weak market conditions,” he said. “Hence residential property prices are likely to continue falling through 2011.” Report by Ed Carty - Irish Independent

Prices could fall by a further 15% if rate of decline continues into next year... ANALYSIS: Oversupply, the lack of mortgage financing and the cost of borrowing are all playing a part as property prices continue to decline THE GOOD news on the property market: July’s monthly fall in homes prices was the second smallest this year. The bad news: a single month is not enough to suggest that the deteriorating trend over the course of 2011 has been arrested. The average monthly fall in prices over the first seven months of this year was 1.4 per cent. The average of the 12 months of 2010 was 0.9 per cent. The accelerating underlying rate of price declines up to the middle of this year is cause for concern. And delving deeper into yesterday’s figures gives no reason to believe any segment of the market has been immune. The chart shows declines in prices from January to July ranged from 6-11 per cent. That has added to the already massive declines registered among every market segmen...

House prices ‘could fall by 67% from peak’... INTERNATIONAL credit ratings agency, Fitch Ratings has warned of "further downside risks" to Irish house prices; adding that prices could ultimately fall by 67% from peak levels in a worst-case scenario. In a new report on the Irish housing market, Fitch said it realistically expects prices to show a total drop of 50% from their peak around four years ago. However, it added that while that rate of decline forms "the most likely scenario", a worst-case scenario would result in a full-term 67% drop in house prices. "Irish house prices continued declining during 2010 and now are approximately 42% below the peak. "In light of the oversupply of properties and continued restricted credit availability, the agency sees further downside risks to Irish house prices and as a result, Fitch now expects a peak-to-trough house price decline of approximately 50% as the most likely scenario," said Ketan Thaker, sen...

House prices continue to tumble despite faster selling time... HOUSE prices are continuing to plummet with asking prices now as much as 47pc lower than the peak just four years ago. A new report from property website Daft.ie says that although homes are selling faster, prices are continuing to fall. And the findings are confirmed in a separate report from myhome.ie, albeit with variations in the average asking price for a house. Daft.ie says the average asking price in June was €196,000, down 47pc from the peak. The myhome.ie survey says the average asking price nationally is now €249,000, 40pc down on peak. Prices of new homes are now back at the 2001 level, myhome.ie adds, with average asking prices of €239,000 in Cork, €234,500 in Galway, €185,000 in Limerick, while the Dublin figure is €286,000. Daft.ie said that Dublin asking prices fell by 5.26pc over the past three months, and now the typical figure is half of what it was during the peak in 2007. South County Dub...

More than 60,000 homeowners fall 90 days behind on repayments... THE number of homeowners who are three months or more behind on their mortgage repayments has jumped to 60,000. Ratings agency Moody's released statistics yesterday showing 7.62pc of the home loans that have been sold off to investors are now 90 days or more in arrears. If this figure is applied across the entire 782,427 mortgages in the market, it means just short of 60,000 homeowners are now three or more months behind on their repayments. Figures from the Central Bank last month put the number of homeowners in arrears in the three months to March at just shy of 50,000, or 6.3pc of all mortgages. Now Moody's has produced figures for April showing the percentage in arrears has gone up from 6.65pc in February. This means an additional 8,000 mortgage holders fell behind on their payments between February and April. However, the Central Bank pointed out that the number of repossessions remained low at ...

Nama's equity plan 'is doomed by ECB rates'... Hobbs rubbishes scheme to protect homeowners, insisting any progress would be wiped out by a few interest hikes. A proposal by Nama to protect homebuyers from negative equity has been dismissed as an attempt to "manipulate property prices" and will not work in the face of rising interest rates imposed by the ECB, leading economic adviser Eddie Hobbs says. "They're trying to put a floor on the market. You would have to say that it's a positive attempt, but the history of economics is littered with various attempts to manipulate property prices. If interest rates rise, it doesn't matter what kind of floor you try to put on the market, because you'll be overwhelmed by it. "I'm in Germany at the moment and the place is absolutely hopping. The German economy is booming and inflation is rising in Europe. The Central Bank in Frankfurt is going to raise interest rates to protect the Germa...

Call for inquiry into property bubble... An independent inquiry is needed into the Government’s failure to control the property bubble, a State-funded academic institution said today. In a scathing report, the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (Nirsa) also demanded a full investigation into charges of cronyism in the planning process. Furthermore, the body which examines how the country is developing, claimed the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is a worrying organisation set up as part of a response to protect developers potentially at the expense of taxpayers. Professor Rob Kitchin, director of Nirsa, which is based in NUI Maynooth, said an inquiry into planning decisions and alleged close links between politicians and property speculators was necessary if the housing market was to recover. “An independent inquiry is needed to investigate all aspects of the planning system and its operation within and across different agencies and at all scales in Ireland in...

The victims of Ireland's economic collapse... Ireland was hailed during the boom years as a 'celtic tiger'. But now the government has had to introduce huge cuts to deal with its budget deficit. How is it affecting ordinary people? When Ann Moore returned to have breakfast with her family after a 12-hour night shift at a nursing home, she found riot police and bailiffs outside her home of 16 years. She and her husband, Christy, and their three children were being evicted. Despite climbing a ladder to the top of the house for six hours in a desperate attempt to thwart the bailiffs, the distressed care worker was eventually coaxed down and taken to hospital. Her home in the southern suburbs of Dublin was promptly boarded up. The Moores were badly in arrears, owing the council €10,000. For eight months, Ann had been paying back €50 on top of her €100 weekly rent. But in a country where 300,000 homes lie empty, the authorities decided to make the Moores homeless and punish them...

A 50pc descent from peak to trough... IF there is one economic certainty for 2009 it is that Irish house prices will continue to fall just as the economy accelerates in reverse. Even the most bullish of commentators or indeed vested interests have pencilled in 2010 as the earliest date for a turnaround. According to the ESRI, which is now firmly in the bear's camp, prices are likely to end 2009 at the same level as the last half of 2003. This means anyone who bought from 2004 on is very likely to have a home worth less than they paid for it. With the economy set to decline by 5 per cent or more and employment to fall by as many as 140,000 jobs resulting in double digit unemployment figures, people will simply hold off on most purchases. According to Jim Power, chief economist at Friends First this deterioration in the labour market with massive job losses and increased job uncertainty as well as downward pressure on wages will keep sentiment pretty negative. The result, he says, wi...