Daft Property - Irish Property News

The end of July reports show... Number signing on Live Register rises by 10,600 The rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits over the last year has increased at the fastest rate since records began over 40 years ago. In July, 10,600 people joined the Live Register bringing the seasonally adjusted total signing on to 226,000, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office this morning. The monthly increase is the second highest on record after March of this year. The number on the register is the highest in a decade. Last month’s increase lifted the standardised unemployment rate to 5.9 per cent, the CSO said. Over the last 12 months the number of people seeking unemployment benefits has risen by over a third with 63,647 people joining the register. In July 6,700 males and 3,800 females joined the register. Leo Varadkar, Fine Gael enterprise spokesman accused the Government of losing control of a deteriorating economic

www.daft.ie - Quarter 1 2008 Irish property figures are out - and according to today's Irish Independent Newspaper, we are in the middle of major Property price crash! There has been widespread price drops across the country and the trend looks set to continue for the foreseeable future... "ASKING prices for houses in some of the country's most affluent areas have plummeted by a massive 7pc in the space of just three months, according to a new survey published today. The report reveals property prices in the leafy suburbs of south county Dublin tumbled by an average of €40,000, or 6pc, in the first quarter of 2008. In Co Wicklow, prices also took a dramatic nose dive of more than €35,000 (7pc). The average price for a house in south county Dublin now stands at €649,383. Asking prices in Co Wicklow dropped to €445,681, the new survey by Daft.ie has found. Nationwide, the property slump caused asking prices to fall by 1.2pc. The drop is in sharp contrast to late 2007, when a

One of my favourite sites about what's happening with the Irish Property scene is The Property Pin - thepropertypin.com. "... thepropertypin.com was established to discuss the existence of a damaging speculative price bubble in the Irish housing market" ... The Property Pin is " not here to cheerlead the crash but rather to illuminate, to provide balanced discussion and to help prevent another property bubble from occurring in the future." A great forum - well worth a visit!

More Fact is Fiction TV Reality or something... "Dodgy Developers, Corrupt politicians, Back Handers and a loss of faith in government, sounds like a normal episode of Law and Order to me! Why not cancel the Mahon Tribunal and let Law and Order sort it in an hour! (allowing for commercials of course!)"

I came accross a report in Business Week Magazine about the Celtic Tiger... "Once the envy of Europe, Ireland's economy is set to grow this year at it slowest rate in two decades. The collapse of a housing bubble coupled with the strong euro is raising unemployment and slowing growth, reducing the Celtic Tiger's roar to a whimper. And the news keeps getting worse. More than $5.5 billion was wiped off the value of Irish stocks on Mar. 17, in what commentators have dubbed the "St. Patrick's Day massacre." "The Irish economy is heading into recession," says Alan Ahearne, an economist at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and a former senior economist at the U.S. Federal Reserve... It's not just about the global credit crunch, weak banks, or bearish stock markets. Rather, Ireland is at the tail end of a housing- and consumer-fueled boom—similar to that of the U.S.—and finds itself at the mercy of global trends such as inflation, wage-scale

Parade Video: More daft news...The bubble has burst - The Irish housing market and economy is now on major downturn, property prices are crashing, unemployment the highest in years, recession looms, etc - but, hey, let the party continue! Yes it's now "St Paddy's 5 Days" over here - Ireland's National Holiday, St. Patrick's Day, now runs from March 13th to 17th! Enjoy!

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern seems to be changing his upbeat outlook for the economy in Ireland. On ireland.com today: " Ahern has warned of a "hard year" ahead for the Irish economy in his most downbeat assessment to date of the repercussions of the sharp economic downturn in the US... Mr Ahern said a huge range of companies in the US were facing serious problems, a situation that would have an inevitable knock-on effect on the world economy. In a specific reference to the effects on Ireland on what many commentators say is a looming recession in the US, the Taoiseach said: "We won't escape that. What we have to try to do is keep up the growth rates... The comments by the Taoiseach, who was speaking to reporters in Dublin, were part of a response to a question about the live register figures for February, published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday. The figures show that unemployment had increased to 5.2 per cent, the highest level for eight years. In

M3 Madness: The M3 motorway being built, by the Irish Government, in one of Ireland’s major historic areas has been condemned in a BBC documentary, Tar on Tara, by Seamus Heaney, The Nobel Laureate, and many others. Crazy Property Prices: Due to crazy property prices in the Capital, Meath and Cavan is now home to thousands that commute to Dublin. The infrstructure has not kept up pace with this hideous urban sprawl - the only railway line is for freight only so commuters must rely on road transport. The current N3 has some of the worst traffic jams in Ireland! Heritage Destroyed: A new road was needed but why choose the Tara Skreen valley? This is a place of huge historical and religious significance in Ireland for thousands of years. Seamus Heaney on BBC: “I think it literally desecrates an area - I mean the word means to de-sacralise and for centuries the Tara landscape and the Tara sites have been regarded as part of the sacred ground" Celtic Tiger Attacks: “It will be a sort

Irish Property Market...Fact is Fiction & TV Reality? I love this!...A mockumentary video, used to promote a new property website for Ireland. This video fooled both the national broadcaster and city officials!

Just browsing through the Irish Newspapers this morning while enjoying my coffee... Plenty Property News for Ireland...Typical headlines today are: "What's your house worth now?" "Prices drop as buyers wait it out" "Southside sales don’t escape downturn" "Price of Limerick homes drop" "Reduced price to spark interest in D6 home" (A bargain now at only €5.5 million - was €6 million!) "Property price rises wiped out by 10pc fall in market" "House prices down €18,000 on average" "Price cuts may trigger domino effect" "Finding affordable townhouse is mission impossible" "Homebuyers opting out of sales now face losing deposits"

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