Daft Property - Irish Property News

House prices now under €200k, lowest since 2000... HOUSE prices in Dublin have fallen below the €200,000 barrier for the first time since the early months of 2000. Values fell by almost 17pc last year - the fastest annual decline in almost two years, official figures have revealed. The average cost of a home is now about €165,000 based on prices at the peak of the property boom in February 2007 while in Dublin prices have fallen to €198,260. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has reported prices down by 47pc in the last five years. On top of that huge crash, the record for December shows house prices falling at their fastest rate since February 2010 and a steady increase in the rate of decline all through 2011. The average price paid for a house nationally in February 2007 was euro €311,078, while in Dublin it was €431,000, according to the accepted report on mortgage drawdowns by Permanent TSB. Based on those figures and the CSO's rate of decline, average prices ...

An oversupply of housing and continued uncertainty are among reasons there is little hope of growth in the residential market... IN SPITE of last month’s budget measures aimed at stimulating the property market, there are six reasons why the market will remain slow to recover. The National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) at NUI Maynooth is one of the few bodies which has been consistently researching the housing market with any degree of rigour. It believes that the budget measures aimed at boosting the residential property market won’t work. Firstly, prices are still falling, or “unwinding”, and most analysis suggests they will continue to fall for up to the next 24 months. No correction can happen until prices stop falling. But even when they do stabilise, there are other issues to take into account. We have a massive oversupply of housing. CSO figures say 14.7 per cent of the total stock is vacant. My calculations say that excluding second a...

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...

THERE was further gloom for homeowners after property prices plunged again last month. Prices have been diving now for almost four years. And there is no let-up in sight, with economists predicting prices will keep going down next year. The average residential property has lost almost €150,000 in value since the peak and is now worth around €169,000, according to the latest gloomy figures. Around €232,000 has been wiped off the value of houses and apartments in Dublin as the capital continues to suffer much sharper price declines than the rest of the country. The new figures from the CSO also show that the annual rate of decline in prices jumped to 15.6pc in November. Prices fell by 1.5pc last month and are now down 46pc from the peak of the market in early 2007, the official figures show. The CSO only gives percentage changes, but analysts have calculated that the price of an average property is now just €169,000. This is down from €314,000 when the property bubble was at its m...

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 ...

The property dilemma -- to sit tight or cut your losses? It's a dilemma hitting thousands -- especially young couples living in apartments. What do they do -- sell now or hold on? Many of them were frightened on to the bottom rung of the property ladder and now find themselves in a home which is too small for their needs. They are asking themselves if they should take the hit on negative equity, and buy a house which can accommodate a growing family. And even if they do, where will they get the money to buy another property? A few years ago, many had held on in the hope of a soft landing, but now are wondering whether they should bite the bullet and jump. Already price falls of 40pc to 50pc have made family houses much more affordable. However, many couples who sell an apartment that they bought in the boom could find that the sale price is far less than the amount they owe to the bank. Banks are slow to allow them to sell, trade up and carry over the negative equit...

Bulldozers send boomtime buildings crashing down... TWO unfinished houses that would have fetched €200,000 each during the boom have been bulldozed because of public safety fears. The unoccupied houses -- and foundations for three more -- were levelled at Church View in Clongeen, Co Wexford, at a cost to the taxpayer of €28,000. Other residents of the estate last night said they were relieved that Wexford County Council had taken action against the developers, Impulse Construction Ltd, by knocking down the houses. They said the unfinished houses had attracted vandals and encouraged anti-social behaviour for some time, and were unsightly at the entrance to the estate. This was the first time houses had been demolished in a new estate in Wexford, but the Department of the Environment confirmed other houses had been demolished on a small number of occasions. Wexford County Council confirmed it has more plans in the pipeline to carry out "public safety works which may involv...