Daft Property - Irish Property News

They're all away as we face Greek-style crisis Immediate action needed on debt, but Dail won't cut short holidays... THE Government is to leave the political apparatus of the State on holiday throughout September -- even though there is growing concern that the country could face a Greek-style crisis before the end of the year. Widespread bewilderment was aroused in high finance circles last week by the publication of photographs of the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, playing golf the day after Ireland's sovereign debt was downgraded again. In what is seen as an example of ill-judged timing, Mr Cowen played golf in Connemara on Wednesday with other seemingly carefree TDs and senators, who still have four weeks of a two-month summer break to go. But while the Oireachtas is in repose, enjoying a longer than usual break, the financial markets are in overdrive and are now evidently training their sights on Ireland with the apparent intention of again testing the resolve of the EU later

The Metro is an insane idea -- and a disaster for Dublin... We've been bombarded with cataclysmic figures for the past two years, all of which related to financial obligations caused by our past blunders. Many of you were clearly unaware that the Metro represents an entirely voluntary leap into a fresh and cataclysmic debt that could bring disaster to Dublin. Now, no one would back a plan to build a huge coal-fired power station that had been conceived before global warming. So why is this technically bankrupt State hoping to build an underground rail link from St Stephen's Green to Dublin Airport which was conceived before the financial meltdown? We are borrowing €20bn a year merely to run the State and to pay civil servants' salaries and pensions. And yet we still propose to build the Metro? This is not rational behaviour, but akin to the conduct of an alcoholic who has foresworn alcohol totally -- apart, that is, from the open-ended credit-card account with Tesco wines,

Big move is abroad as market stagnates... MASS EMIGRATION may be an unwelcome throwback to the past for many Irish people but for the removals industry the growing exodus of workers to far-flung destinations means business is booming once again. Some of the sector’s largest firms are reporting dramatic increases in the numbers of people moving lock, stock and barrel to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Most of these migrants are families who have cut their losses on property at home or are renting out their homes in the expectation of a return in three to five years’ time. Last month, a report from the EU Commission showed more people were leaving Ireland than anywhere else in the European Union and commentators attributed these rising emigration levels to departing non-nationals and young Irish males in search of better job prospects. But according to Eamonn Finn, of Allen Removals, the “overwhelming majority of clients are Irish families who have decided to move overseas per

THE most comprehensive report on the Irish property market is out and it evidences the total destruction of wealth of a certain generation. According to the wonderfully detailed work done by Ronan Lyons at Daft.ie, asking prices countrywide fell by just over 4pc in the second three months of the year -- a slightly larger fall than in the first quarter. The average asking price nationally in the second quarter of 2010 was just over €224,000 -- 36pc below its 2007 peak. The acceleration in price falls will come as little surprise, but the question now is how can a generation whose balance sheet has been so totally vaporised ever start spending again? Back in 2007, I wrote a book called 'The Generation Game', which focused on how the generation between the ages of 30 and 40, who had got into the housing market via huge mortgages, would be financially eviscerated. This group was termed "the juggling generation" because they were trying to juggle being good parents and go

'The estate is shabby now. I don't know how they'll sell anything' Unfinished roads, stalled sewerage systems and dangerous empty houses: welcome to a housing nightmare... CIARÁN DOYLE lives in a well-designed, highly insulated, nicely finished three-bed house which he describes as “perfect”, yet everyone in town refers to where he lives as “the building site”. Rinuccini, incongruously named after a 17th-century Italian cardinal, is just one of several unfinished estates which encircle Portlaoise town but, on first sight, it’s the worst. Four storeys of bare grey concrete criss-crossed with rusting scaffolding, intended to house up to 70 apartments, fronts straight onto the Dublin Road. “The apartments are a holy show. Because we’re on the Dublin Road, it’s one of the first things that hits you coming in and it looks shocking bad for the town. I’ll never understand why they didn’t start building at the road first and work in.” Ciarán has plenty of opportunity to ponder

When property prices in a leafy corner of Dublin 4 hit world-record heights, the signs were all there for catastrophe... Four years ago, property editors of leading international newspapers just could not believe what they were hearing. Homes on Shrewsbury and Ailesbury roads in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, which had long set the record as Ireland's most expensive, were reaching new peaks, rivalling some of the most expensive properties in Manhattan or Paris. Prices of a country's most expensive residential properties are a useful early indicator for economies facing economic trouble. Prices of top-end Irish properties at their peak were signalling that the Irish economy was heading for a crash, because residences on Ailesbury and Shrewsbury roads were not only the priciest in Ireland, but were also arguably the most expensive in the world. In 2006, high-end properties, selling for an equivalent €4,450 per square foot, in a London economy fuelled by bankers' multi-mill

New 21st-Century Monopoly edition missed a few tricks... Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect €200. We've all had the sinking feeling of picking up a card and reading those words. These days, however, it's also a fair summary of what most of the country would like to say to the politicians, bankers and developers who've landed us in such a mess. Radical The Irish edition of Monopoly has just been given a radical makeover for the 21st century -- but even so, it's hard not to feel that they've missed a few tricks. When Monopoly first appeared in shops exactly 75 years ago, America was in the middle of the Great Depression. Charles Darrow, the man who launched it, had lost his job in the Wall Street Crash and thought that people might enjoy the escapism of a game that allowed people to become property tycoons. He was as astonished as anyone else when it made him a real-life millionaire. In modern Ireland, things are a little bit different. We still like

Problems at 'ghost estates' identified... So-called “ghost” housing estates are posing serious health and environmental dangers through problems such as incomplete sewerage systems, water contamination, unfinished roads and open manholes, a study has found. The issues have been identified in a pilot study in Co Laois, ordered by the Department of the Environment, on the likely effects of the sudden end to the building boom, particularly in rural areas. The study, which assessed housing developments that were granted planning permission in the county in the last five years, found a quarter of them had health and safety problems. It also emerged that local authority requirements for builders’ bonds are in many cases seriously inadequate. The bonds are supposed to be taken out to ensure estates are completed. In some cases the requirements appear to have been ignored completely. Minister of State with responsibility for planning Ciarán Cuffe said it was expected that most of the u

The taxpayer saved the banks, so now they turn the screw on mortgage rates... When the European Central Bank this week kept its key interest rate at one per cent, worried mortgage holders who are struggling to meet their repayments breathed a collective sigh of relief across euro land. Except in Ireland, that is. In Fair Eire, allegedly the land of a thousand welcomes, mortgage interest rates are actually going up. Economists say the main message from the ECB monthly press conference last Thursday was that the first hike in official rates is a relatively comfortable amount of time away -- probably no earlier than late 2011. That gives most people space to put bread on the table, squirrel away some extra cash and pay off their credit cards. Not so here, however, where public sector workers have seen their wages slashed and, as unemployment rises in the private sector, the public has watched helplessly as billions of euro of taxpayers' money has been used to prop up the banks. Billio

THE Government has been accused of presiding over a graduate "brain drain". Unemployment among graduates has almost trebled in the past two years, and student leaders say more and more college leavers are being forced to quit the country. Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures reveal there were 68,600 unemployed graduates in March, compared with 25,400 at the same time in 2008. The jobs problem is greater for males, who account for 60pc of out-of-work graduates, up from 56pc two years ago. The Economic and Social Research Institute recently warned that 200,000 people may be forced to emigrate between now and 2015 if unemployment is not addressed. And the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) says many of these will be highly skilled graduates. USI president Gary Redmond said it was ironic the Jeanie Johnston famine ship was docked in Dublin's IFSC, the area that was once the heart of Ireland's Celtic Tiger economy. USI members are planning a protest at the ship today to

Junkies and empty spaces litter streets where a dream died... The ill-fated Northern Quarter would have transformed our capital city: A mid-afternoon stroll around the place that would have been known as the Northern Quarter shows, emerging from the cracks, what we have come to expect in these days of broken dreams. There are junkies everywhere, in the numerous alleyways and on street corners, cravenly going about their business; there are the usual scatterings of beggars too, wrapped up quietly within themselves. In unequal measure, then, it is an uneasy landscape, both edgy and pathetic. People walk past, eyes in the distance, without taking notice -- or so it seems -- hurrying for trains, cars, buses, and bicycles, any mode at all out of the city and home. I was once familiar, indeed, with this area, before moving office in 2004, shortly after the arrival of the Luas -- a shining symbol of the new and of renewal, if ever there was one, at a time of optimism not that long ago. These

Selling off state assets on the cheap is just madness... This Government will not contemplate selling property just in case it would bankrupt the banks. The State's argument is that the market is depressed so if we were to sell the land, we would not get a fair price for it. So we will postpone the problem: we get NAMA -- a financial skip into which the banks throw their worthless mistakes -- and you pay. The logic of NAMA and this Government's central strategy is to wait for the value of land to improve before selling. Whether you agree with it or not, this is their logic. It can be summed up by: "Don't sell land in a depressed market." Yet at the same time, the Government has just announced that it will sell real assets via privatisation in a similarly depressed market. So why can it sell ESB -- a real company with real assets -- and not a field in Athlone which is worthless and should command the price a farmer would pay you to put a donkey grazing on it? Why i

Be prepared for a double whammy of property and water levies... PROPERTY tax isn't going away -- and it might be introduced at the same time as water charges. Homeowners who thought they would be spared the controversial taxes for the foreseeable future have been told that they are still firmly on the Government's Budget agenda. As the Cabinet prepared to meet for its final session before the summer break, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern reignited the debate over domestic taxes. It had been believed that property tax would be shelved, despite the Government's need to make a €3bn adjustment in December's budget. But yesterday, Mr Ahern said: "That may include a property tax and charging for water - which are in every other European country." Dragged He also warned that low paid workers could be dragged back into the tax net. "There's a relatively small percentage of people who are paying tax. But 50pc of people are not paying a bob of tax. That is not su

And They're Off... The Hook Again... As the Nama smoke begins to clear, it is apparent developers deemed too big to fail are being bailed out just like the banks... Last week, there was the ritual sacrifice. Seán FitzPatrick "bowed to the inevitable" as he said himself, and petitioned to be declared a bankrupt. From here on in, if he is to enjoy any luxury in his life, it will be as a kept man. His wife, who never worked a day in Anglo Irish Bank, enjoys half a pension pot somewhere north of €3m. She is also part owner of a number of properties, which is just as well for the FitzPatricks, if they are to continue living in the style to which they have become accustomed. There is little sympathy for FitzPatrick. In a country where so many are struggling, he has become the pantomime villain. As a result, there was no way that Anglo Irish Bank was ever going to accept a private deal to settle his debts. The public would have been outraged. But what of all the rest? FitzPatric

Despite movement in the property market in the first six months of this year, little has changed really. Prices are still falling, the banks are continuing to enforce tougher lending criteria and discussion about the dreaded property tax has loomed its ugly head again instilling fear among most homeowners. Bank sales of apartment blocks that have gone bust have gained interest from buyers as the banks try to recoup some of their loans. But what’s going to happen for the rest of the year? Houses have started selling again, but are the volumes worth talking about and are bank sales going to become a common feature of the property market? Some commentators consider successful sales of receivership properties a sign of a recovery starting, others view them as a negative influence on an already struggling market. There has been considerable debate about a levelling-out of property prices or ‘‘a bottoming’’ of the market since the start of the year. Instead we’ve seen prices continue to fall

Department says it warned of property bubble... THE DEPARTMENT of Finance says it warned the Government from 2005 onwards about the dangers of a property bubble, internal official documents show. Briefing material prepared for the department’s secretary general Kevin Cardiff last month states that the department warned over several years that the “over-emphasis on construction left the economy vulnerable to macroeconomic shocks”. It also defends the department’s performance in failing to forecast the extent of the downturn, and points to similar failures by institutions such as the ESRI, Central Bank and the private sector to predict the magnitude of the slowdown. The material was prepared for the secretary general ahead of his appearance before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee just over a month ago. The contents of the documents have been released under the Freedom of Information Act in the same week Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan announced an external review of the depart

Mortgage bid to unlock market could backfire... NEGATIVE equity is the scourge of homeowners who bought their houses in the past few years. By the end of this year, as many as one-in-three mortgage holders are expected to be in negative equity -- where the value of their home has collapsed to such an extent that they owe their lender more than it is worth. Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) economist David Duffy made the estimate based on house prices having fallen by 30pc from the peak of the housing boom in 2007. But most commentators say that house prices have fallen by around 50pc from the peak. In that case, the ESRI estimates that some 350,000 homeowners will end up in negative equity this year. Being in negative equity means you cannot sell your house to move somewhere else. This is because you will still owe the bank more than the sale price of the home. Banks will not normally allow you to sell up in that situation. This is why Ulster Bank and EBS Building Society a

Government still avoiding public inquiry into the economic crash... The Government coalition parties did not want a comprehensive public inquiry into the reasons for the banking and economic crash. Instead, they have ended up reluctantly endorsing no less than three mini-inquiries into aspects of the banks here that will, of course, be conducted largely in private. In January, Taoiseach Brian Cowen endorsed setting up two inquiries - one into the evident failures of the financial regulator in recent years and the reckless amounts of money advanced by the banks. The new broom at the central bank, the TCD academic Patrick Honohan, said he favoured a banking inquiry. Governor Honohan then set out to report on the huge failings of the reformed organisation he now leads. Separately, two outsiders, the German Klaus Regling and Englishman Max Watson, were appointed to investigate the reckless lending by the bankers. Messrs Regling and Watson reportedly talked to a clutch of Ireland's form