Daft Property - Irish Property News

Culture In Ireland - Disappearing Fast... M3 Motorway protesters say that they are now in a tunnel, which was secretly dug, under the proposed road going through the Tara Valley in Co Meath. According to ireland.com: "A group calling itself the Rath Lugh Direct Action Camp last night said protesters are already occupying the tunnel and were capable of sealing themselves in. They said that construction traffic passing over the tunnel would leave it vulnerable to collapse. Derek Berrill, a spokesman for the group which is affiliated to the Save Tara campaign, said the passageway was located in front of the Rath Luth promontory fort in the Gabhra Valley. "It has been occupied since March 6th. We have moved in because we are never too sure when they plan the next move against us," said Mr Berrill. He said that work had commenced on the tunnel in secret in August 2007. He would not specify its exact size. "I can say the tunnel is big, although I am not in a position to g

Ireland is going from one extreme to another - Boom to bust! With so few people now buying property in Ireland, instead waiting to see how much more prices will drop, the whole building scene in Ireland has slowed dramatically . The Live Register figures for January, just published, by the Central Statistics Office show a continuing increase in unemployment numbers during February. Many of these new unemployed are former Construction Industry workers. The numbers on Social Welfare, in Ireland, are now highest for the last eight years at 5.2%. Meanwhile SIPTU has rejected a request by the Construction Industry Federation for a 12-month pay freeze and a 30% cut in entry rates for construction workers. Perhaps this would have helped things?

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!

First it was the Leprechauns...now it's a Turkey... Yes Ireland's Eurovision Song 2008 will be sung by none other than Dustin the Turkey - (RTE's Eurosong Contest 2008 Winner!) "Irlande Douze Pointe" aka "Ireland Twelve Points". Watch the video: ...The Eurovision winner for sure!

Looks like Interest Rates in Ireland rates will be dropping. According to a report, in The Irish Independent Newspaper (www.independent.ie), The European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday paved the way for the first cuts in nearly five years! ECB president Jean Claude Trichet left rates unchanged when the ECB met yesterday and there was no mention of increases. David Tilson of Bank of Ireland, said: "The ECB has effectively dropped its threat to raise interest rates." Skip the Champagne... Don't start celebrating yet - most of top analysts believe there will be no rate drops until the second half of 2008 (at the earliest)!

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!

More good news today? (...well for hopeful home buyers anyway!) Irish House prices look set to fall by at least 5pc in 2008. This is according to Austin Hughes (an IIB group Homeloans economist,) during a presentation on the housing market outlook in Ireland for 2008. He also added..."The housing slowdown has been a good bit more severe than I had anticipated."

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"