Daft Property - Irish Property News

Reality of the market has yet to hit property brochures... It’s almost  the end of 2012  and let’s face it, the property market is all about reality these days…some would say grim reality so why haven’t some estate agents tempered the grandiose  language in their brochures to reflect the general mood, one wonders?  It’s supposed to be a new era of transparency following the introduction of the  Property Services Regulation Act 2011 so shouldn’t that involve a rethink on the adjective  count  in the average brochure? Take for example the use, or misuse,  of the word “residence”  which seems to apply to  the  pokiest townhouse and  modest three-bed semi. While referring to a small house as a residence  isn’t wrong exactly, it is a tad misleading, or it would be if you couldn’t see the photos. Maybe the hope is if they use the word often enough it will subliminally trick the buyer into thinking  they are buying Downton Abbey . There seems to be a brochure  template that some agen

State bad loans agency NAMA has decided for the first time to demolish a derelict apartment block it owns. The apartment block -- in the Gleann Riada estate on the outskirts of Longford town -- comprises 12 unsold units that are in disrepair. It is understood another half a dozen NAMA-controlled ghost estates will be knocked down before the end of the year as the loans agency returns half-built houses and apartments to green areas. NAMA controls about 280 unfinished developments, some 10pc of the total. Local Fine Gael councillor Peggy Nolan said the Gleann Riada development was "Longford's Priory Hall", referring to the apartment complex in north Dublin that had to be evacuated last year due to shoddy building work. Residents of the Longford estate have staged a long campaign to have their development properly completed. The unoccupied apartment block at the entrance to the development has also been vandalised. There are 90 houses on the estate on Strokestown Road that

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

MANY PEOPLE selling their homes are still looking for prices higher than buyers are likely to pay – and the difference between asking and selling prices can be as much as 20 per cent. For while property website surveys published this week show residential property price falls since the peak of the property boom of between 43 and 52 per cent nationally, estate agents say that actual selling prices are now down by around 60 per cent and more. The lack of specific information about property sales prices means that buyers and sellers are still largely in the dark about what is actually happening in the property market. This should change in June, when a property price register detailing recent sales, with addresses and prices, is published by the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA). The figures published by property websites MyHome and Daft are all based on asking prices. Meanwhile, the CSO’s most recent residential property price index, published in late December, showed prices

92% of lots sold by Allsop... THE BIDDING was brisk at the Allsop Space auction of mostly distressed property in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel yesterday, as 1,600 people packed into the auction room and spilled out into the bar and lobby of the hotel. A total of 97 of the 108 properties sold under the hammer with a further two selling after auction, raising a total of €11.4 million. Around half were cash buyers – 30 per cent less than at previous auctions. A small group of protesters from a group calling themselves the Anti-Eviction Taskforce held a low-key protest outside the hotel. However proceedings came to a brief halt when one protester stood up in front of the auctioneer and warned about the “ill will” that could affect buyers of distressed property in communities. “Don’t bid then,” replied auctioneer Gary Murphy from UK-based Allsop, before thanking the protestor for his “kind words”. Around a third of the lots are apartments, and one of the bargains of the auction was a

Nama 'perks' for builders add to sense of injustice Developers enjoying allowances on top of huge salaries -- and all at taxpayers' expense... DEVELOPERS who work for Nama will be entitled to claim expenses and may even stay in their palatial homes as they draw salaries ranging from €70,000 to €200,000, the Sunday Independent can reveal. Confirmation of the generous allowances being given by the State's so-called 'bad bank' is sure to provoke fresh anger from a public reeling from the revelation by Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh last Wednesday that his agency has approved salaries of €200,000 for two of its biggest developers. Appearing before the Dail's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Mr McDonagh also confirmed Nama's intention to approve salaries ranging from €70,000 to €100,000 a year for between 110 and 120 developers on its books before the end of this year. Confirmation of the multimillion euro pay bill has unsurprisingly been met

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

NAMA under fire for failing to help house poor people. ENVIRONMENT Minister Phil Hogan is embroiled in a row with NAMA over whether the agency is doing enough to house poor people. The minister said he was unhappy with the toxic assets agency for not selling properties under its control at a discount to his department. These could then be used to house those on council housing waiting lists. But the department was unable yesterday to identify specific areas in need of social housing where NAMA had a stockpile of suitable properties. And NAMA has no specific legal obligation to help to resolve the social housing problem. The law setting up the agency says that one of its purposes is "to contribute to the social and economic development of the State". But there is no mention about handing over specific numbers of properties for social housing. So far just 58 apartments in the Beacon South Quarter, Sandyford, which had been in NAMA, have been purchased by a volun

Noonan: no lottery style payout for mortgage debt crisis... FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan yesterday promised that the Government will act swiftly to deal with the mortgage-debt crisis -- but insisted the solution will not be a "big pool of money in substitute for the lottery". The comments came as Mr Noonan insisted it was "not realistic" to expect the Government to sanction universal "debt forgiveness" for borrowers who bought at the peak of the market or have run into trouble with their mortgages. At a meeting of the Finance Committee yesterday, Mr Noonan repeatedly stressed that he would not second-guess the work of an interdepartmental group due to report on solutions to the mortgage crisis at the end of September. But he categorically ruled out any role for universal debt forgiveness, insisting it was "not possible" and that "nobody should think there's going to be some big pool of money to be handed out as a substitute fo

Insurer refuses to pay for pyrite damage in buildings... HomeBond leaves owners facing bills of €70,000. Thousands face bills of up to €70,000 to repair pyrite damage to their homes after a leading building insurer refused to meet claims. HomeBond, the building insurance agent, has contacted the owners of affected properties to tell them they will not accept liability or pay out on claims. Some homeowners who had already been offered compensation have now been told that these offers no longer stand. Junior Minister and Meath East TD Shane McEntee, who has represented many of the affected families, described the move as "shameful". It follows a High Court case in which it was ruled that a quarry from which pyrite-infected material was sourced was culpable for the condition of the buildings it supplied. Last year it was estimated that around 20,000 claims had been made to HomeBond in relation to pyrite -- a mineral that expands in the presence of moisture and oxygen

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

Here is the online Catalogue for the latest Allsop Space Auction which takes place on 23rd September 2011 at The Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin. There are 74 Lots sorted by Lot Number... Lot Number - Lot Type - Location - Reserve Price: 1 Investment Flat Dublin 1 €90,000 2 Leasehold Flat Co. Dublin €130,000 3 Vacant Flat Blackrock €185,000 4 Vacant Flat Howth €150,000 5 Vacant Flat Galway City €90,000 6 Leasehold Flat Dublin 1 €150,000 7 Leasehold Flat Dublin 8 €74,000 8 Vacant Freehold House Clara €30,000 9 Vacant Leasehold House Renvyle €90,000 10 Vacant Flat Blackrock €240,000 11 Investment Freehold House Loughrea €98,000 12 Vacant Freehold House Lackagh €122,500 13 Vacant Freehold Building Fermoy €300,000 14 Vacant Freehold House Ballyjamesduff €50,000 15 Leasehold Flat Dublin 1 €65,000 16 Investment Flat Dublin 8 €92,000 17 Vacant Freehold Building Gorey €50,000 18 Investment Freehold Building Rathgar €240,000 19 Investment Freehold Building Rathgar €380,000 2

COUNTRY buyers with cash in their pockets have been trawling Dublin for homes for their college-bound children in the past few weeks – and many will be closing on deals next week, when CAO offers come out. But with the property market in the state it’s in, there’s a lot on offer that could interest investors, ranging from a city centre two-bedroom apartment in the appropriately named College Gate development near Trinity for €190,000 to an eight-bedroom guest-house in Ranelagh for €735,000. Buying a house or apartment to house one or more third-level offspring is cheaper than paying rents – if you don’t have to borrow – especially as prices continue to fall in the city while rents have stabilised, according to the latest Daft report. However, Moneycoach.ie’s Frank Conway sounds a cautionary note about investing in property for your student children: if you don’t have the cash to pay for it “the chances of securing finance is very, very low” he says. “This will rule the majority

Glut of properties drives down rents. RENTAL prices are set to fall in the coming months after a glut of extra properties were put on the market. New figures showed that the number of properties available to rent has shot up by a third since May. Overall rent levels across the country have not moved for a year, but economists predict they may fall in the coming months because of the greater number of properties on the market. The average monthly rent for a house or apartment is €823, a new Daft.ie survey showed. Rents fell by a quarter at the start of 2007, but have since stabilised and are not changing from one month to the next. Owners reacted to rents remaining static by putting more vacant properties into the rental market, Daft.ie economist Ronan Lyons said. The figures came as the scramble for third-level students to find accommodation begins. The total number of properties available to rent in Ireland's five major cities rose from 6,000 in May to 8,000 at the

NAMA's fire sales show cruel reality... WHEN NAMA put for sale signs on hundreds of the properties in its extensive portfolio last week, it gave a glimpse of the abyss into which the Irish property market has fallen. But it really was no more than that - a mere glimpse into the as yet uncharted depths of a catastrophe that has the potential to devour the country's economy and impose penury on the population. On Thursday, NAMA announced its first set of annual accounts, which showed the ' bad bank' made a loss of €1.18 billion - that's one thousand and eighteen million - last year. The good news though is that it's mostly a 'paper' loss - we might not really be down by that much, it just depends on how the property market fares over the next few years. Given that the value of property in Ireland declined by a massive 2.1 per cent in July alone, there's not much reason to be overly optimistic there though. At the same time as announcing its annua

Taxpayer beware as Nama makes spectacular loss. Loss-making Nama has become a seemingly endless gravy train. Worse still, it has emerged as a bailout for some of the same developers who have brought this country to its knees... When it was announced by then Finance Minister Brian Lenihan during his emergency budget speech in April 2009, we were told it would get credit moving, we were promised it would not be a bailout for developers, we were told it wouldn't be a gravy train for advisers, consultants and public sector fat cats and we were told it would make a profit. Set up to save the country from the greed and recklessness of the banks and developers, including Liam Carroll, Bernard McNamara and Sean Dunne, Nama was an unprecedented development in Irish history. But, more than two years on from its inception, there is no question on all of these fronts: Nama has failed and failed spectacularly, and the taxpayer should be very concerned indeed. As last Thursday's an

Web jam as 10,000 download list of NAMA properties... NAMA'S list of property for sale was downloaded by 10,000 people in just a day and a half as bargain hunters scoured the list for cheap deals. A spokesman for toxic debt agency NAMA revealed last night that it was forced to make emergency changes to its website in order to cope with the unprecedented web traffic. It came after NAMA made a list of 850 properties it is selling through receivers available for the first time. The list features property in 25 of the 26 counties as well as Northern Ireland and the UK. The assets listed include everything from car park spaces and bedsits, through to family homes and significant commercial and industrial assets. NAMA is not directly selling any of the property but its 150 staff have been inundated with enquiries since the list went live, sources at the agency said. NAMA is now looking at ways to make the property list easier for the public to access. It also intends to u

New mass sale in autumn... More property auctions are on the cards as owners seek fast sales in an uncertain market. KNIGHT FRANK is the latest estate agency firm to enter the mass auction market with plans to to hold a sale of 30 to 40 homes on a single day in the autumn. The company, which specialises in prime Dublin and country property, is currently scouting for suitable homes to include in an auction scheduled for October. The two auctions held by the Allsop/Space partnership, in April and earlier this month, have shown that there is a market for distressed properties at knockdown prices. Allsop/Space plans to hold a third auction in September with over 100 properties, the vast majority of which are being sold by receivers and banks. Savills is also planning to hold a distressed property sale in the autumn and is believed to be in negotiations with banks to sell their distresed stock. However, Knight Frank sees an opportunity in selling homes for owners rather than for ban

HOUSE prices in Dublin have gone into a 60pc freefall from their peak and are now at levels last seen in 2002. The cost of buying a home in Dublin fell by 16pc in June compared to the same period last year. In real terms, Dublin house prices have fallen by 60.2pc, from the peak of the market in 2006, according to Sherry FitzGerald estate agents. The national market has corrected by 55.2pc and the average cost of a second-hand house in Ireland dropped by 15.3pc. First-time buyers remain the most active sector in the market, accounting for almost one-third of the properties traded in the year to date. Chief economist Marian Finnegan with Sherry FitzGerald said the falls placed the Irish property recession as one of the most significant recessions in the post-war era. "Accelerating deflation in the property market cycle is somewhat contradictory as the factors underpinning the market have strengthened with improved affordability and relatively tight supply, particularly for

I’M WAITING for the implosion. I feel it in my gut and over many years I’ve learnt to trust gut instinct. Something just doesn’t add up. Why are so few houses on the market these days? You might be fooled into believing there is a glut of properties for sale, until you actually go out to look, whereupon you soon realise the turnover of property is so slow that you are looking at the same selection each week. Indeed, so few houses are coming on the market, particularly at the upper end, that the few potential buyers out there are now frustrated, as the choice is so limited. Why are people not selling? It makes no logical sense given what we now know about the vast numbers of mortgages in arrears. Estate agents say that homeowners at the middle to upper level are not selling because property has lost so much value of late they would prefer to hang on until the market improves. Which is all very logical and reasonable assuming these owners can hang on – but are we talking about