Daft Property - Irish Property News

THE average house has lost almost €46,000 of its property-boom value. Prices fell in October for the 20th month in a row. House prices are now down 15pc from their peak of January/February 2007, according to the latest figures from the Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index. Over the past year prices are down 10.2pc after average prices nationally showed a fall of 0.8pc in October, a marginally smaller drop than in the previous two months. However, many economists feel that price declines have been more severe, with a number of estate agencies estimating that prices are already 30pc off their peak. And new figures out yesterday from the Central Bank seemed to back this up. They showed that residential mortgage lending is at its lowest level in 22 years. Permanent TSB executive Niall O'Grady yesterday defended the accuracy of the house price index. "The index remains as valid as it was when house prices were rising," he said. However, he admitted that there was a three-month

25pc afraid of losing jobs as confidence hits a record low... MORE than a quarter of workers fear that they are about to lose their jobs, while one in five thinks their personal financial circumstances will worsen in the next year. But the number of people who fear redundancy in the private sector is likely to be even higher as the survey did not distinguish between public and private sector workers. The Ipsos Mori poll, seen exclusively by the Irish Independent, reveals that consumers' confidence in their personal finances is at its lowest level since the survey was first conducted in 1999. Recessionary times are striking fear into workers with more than a quarter of workers afraid that they are about to lose their jobs. Younger people are more insecure about their jobs than older workers, the survey conducted among 1,500 people between July and September shows. More than a third of those aged between 16 and 24 are concerned about the possibility of being made redundant. Almost th

Talking Property... Give them what they want - a bargain... THE TIME has come to swallow your pride and scream from the rooftops. "WE NEED TO SELL - AND URGENTLY" Just as last season's designer garments fail to excite the fashionistas, your home, regardless of how highly it may once have been rated, will not now excite the chattering classes. Why? Because property is no longer considered a fashionable topic of conversation. In fact, it's a topic to be avoided at all costs these days. It is, as they say, a sore subject. However, on the bright side, the property website Daft has noticed a 35 per cent increase in browsers to their internet site this September compared with September 2007. Now, perhaps they are all nervous homeowners, checking daily to see by how much their property has dropped in value. Or perhaps there are a lot of window-shoppers out in cyberspace at the moment. But along with the above mentioned, I suspect that there may also be a number of potential

Property spend plunges €40bn... Irish spend on property has crashed by 60pc in 2008 compared to last year, with expenditure down by a crushing 73pc -- or around €40bn -- since the market peaked in 2006. Our property spend is forecast to fall to €15bn this year -- down from €45bn in 2007 and a heady €54.4bn in 2006, according to the latest 'Property Outlook' from Savills. Joan Henry, head of Research at Savills Ireland says that all sectors of the property market have been affected -- most obviously the new homes area. The total spend on new homes is expected to fall from an estimated €23bn in 2007 to just €6bn this year. Spend in the Irish investment market is expected to be down as much as 75pc from last year's €2bn. Spend on domestic land is expected to fall by a staggering 80pc. In the new homes as in the second hand market, prices have fallen by as much as 30pc this year and maybe more if looked at on an individual basis. "Successive price reductions this year, cou

Ireland can breach EU spending rules to boost economy... Ireland will be allowed to breach EU spending guidelines for two years and access significant EU funding ahead of schedule, under an EU-wide financial package to be announced this week. The package will provide a boost for the government, which is preparing for a major shortfall in the annual tax take. Initial estimates show a 25 per cent decrease in the corporation tax take in 2008 and a shortfall of more than 55 per cent in capital gains tax receipts. In a briefing with The Sunday Business Post in Brussels, Catherine Day, secretary general of the European Commission, said the commission stimulus package would contain ‘‘concrete and ambitious proposals’’ to help EU member states to deal with the economic crisis. Day said it was likely that countries would be allowed greater flexibility from the EU Stability and Growth Pact, which limits borrowing by member states to 3 per cent of GDP. The flexibility will be allowed for a two-y

Latest round of cuts as vendors move to sell... Prices are tumbling at all levels of the market as homeowners accept that this is what's needed to tempt buyers ...four with deep price cuts: BAGGOT STREET FROM €5M TO €3.8M NUMBER 72 LOWER Baggot Street was priced at €5 million when it first came to the market in August 2006. Since then this price has been revised down to €3.8 million by selling agent Lisney, a cut of €120,000 or 24 per cent. One of the last inhabited houses on Lower Baggot Street, the four-storey over garden level terraced house has been used as a home and dental practice for many years. The 392sq m (4,200sq ft) of living space includes a self-contained flat in the basement. It is also one of the few houses on that part of Baggot Street to still retain its full garden and mews - a two-storey mews house with three small bedrooms, and rear access onto a laneway. The house was put up for auction back in September 2006, but failed to sell. It has been on the market quie

We're getting back to basics in these recessionary times... ANYONE WHO, like me, has only recently learned to appreciate the wonders of Lidl will not be surprised by Ulster Bank's recent revelation that spending took the biggest nosedive since 1983 in the first three quarters of this year and Irish consumers continue to spend cautiously in the run up to Christmas. There was a time when the stark lighting, the anaemic decor (would a cheery sunburst yellow colour scheme be out of the question Mr Lidl?) and that curiously earthy smell once you hit the door (what is that?) was enough to have some of us running to the more sweet smelling Superquinn for cover. But our priorities are changing and we're discovering that rampant parsimony has its thrills. The psyche of a nation, formed over 10 years of profligate spending, is under review and it's not just property we're holding back on, but household goods, which Ulster Bank attributes to the weakness in the housing market,