Daft Property - Irish Property News

Property investor... The Government’s €500 million plan to provide mortgages to those turned down by the banks is a failure.... A PLAN, sponsored by the Government, to make it easier for first-time buyers to get mortgages has flopped because of stringent qualifying conditions and needless bureaucracy. Towards the end of 2008, when the mortgage market began to dry up because of the banking crisis, the Department of the Environment was portrayed as rushing to the rescue of young workers unable to get funding from the banks and building societies. The €500 million mortgage plan announced by Minister for the Environment John Gormley was seen as a serious alternative for those anxious to get on the property ladder. The grand plan, promoted as the Home Choice Loan, has turned out to be a “No Choice Loan”. The difficulties in complying with the terms has meant that, almost 18 months after the launch of the scheme, only three people in the entire country have managed to draw down mortgages (ea

Is it time to start thinking the unthinkable? If our membership of the eurozone was the cause of our woes, perhaps leaving the club would help fix things... AS the Greek financial crisis continues to worsen and shows signs of spreading to other eurozone countries, is it time to start thinking the unthinkable? With Portugal and Spain now in the firing line, we in Ireland need to start asking the hard questions about both our exchange rate policy and our debt mountain. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan was quoted as saying that leaving the euro would be a "disaster" for Ireland. "Were a country to contemplate leaving the euro there would a flight of capital and a collapse of the banking system", according to Mr Lenihan. While we have no reason to doubt the minister's sincerity, the fact that he is even discussing the issue, even if only to rubbish the possibility of Ireland exiting the single currency, demonstrates that the worsening of the Greek crisis h

RTÉ is in Recession 'Aftershock'... A week long session of recession themed programmes will broadcast on RTÉ Television from May 9th – 14th on RTÉ. The series of programmes will examine Ireland’s recession – the effects it has had so far and what we can expect in the future. The programmes are tipped to reflect the after-effects of the boom and bust: from the reality of unemployment and life in so-called "ghost towns" to positive stories of businesses and families who are thriving in spite of the recession. Other programmes will look at the bigger picture, ask where to from here? and present challenging ideas as to how we as a nation can move on from the shock of economic collapse. Aftershock launches with ‘Ghost Land’ on Sunday, May 9th. Produced by RTÉ’s documentary unit ‘Ghost Land’ is an observational documentary that goes behind the figures to show the reality of life in the aftermath of our building boom, told mainly from the perspective of residents who have mo

Land rezoned for 800,000 more homes than needed... Glut highlights role councillors played in fuelling the boom. COUNCILS have rezoned enough land to build almost 800,000 new homes that the country does not need, an Irish Independent investigation has found. Local authorities have rezoned enough land to construct almost 1.1 million houses and apartments across the country at a time when thousands of homes lie empty in 'ghost estates'. But official projections received by the Government have found fewer than 300,000 new units are needed between now and 2016. The revelation highlights the extent of the role councillors and planners have played in fuelling the property boom which collapsed with devastating consequences. Some councils including Meath rezoned up to 60 times more land for residential use than was needed. Just two out of 34 councils -- Limerick and North Tipperary -- under-zoned land. Councils who designated too much land for housing will now be forced by the Governme

Half of us now in negative equity misery... HUNDREDS of thousands of Irish homeowners could face negative equity as early as June. A report from NCB stockbrokers has outlined that as many as 45pc of householders could owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth. NCB economist Brian Devine says that house prices, as officially measured, are still overvalued. "Our estimate for Ireland suggests the number of homes in negative equity ranges between 29pc and 46pc depending on the price decline assumed," Mr Devine outlined. NCB believes prices are already 35pc below their peak, meaning close to one in three homeowners are already in negative equity. "There is little reason to believe that house prices will not continue to fall as future employment prospects remain bleak, further tax hikes are in the pipeline, confidence remains low, emigration is likely and there remains a large supply of properties for sale," the NCB report claimed. "Affordability may have

As the government continues to pump billions into our much discredited banking system, many Irish people unable to find work here are facing into a future outside of this country. John Downes, News Investigations Correspondent, spoke to some of the new Irish diaspora about their recent experiences of emigration... By any stretch of the imagination, they were a startling set of figures, prompting echoes of a past which we thought we had left behind. According to ESRI data released last week, we can expect net emigration of 60,000 in the year to this April – and a further 40,000 by April 2011. That's almost 1,000 of our best and brightest leaving every week. Yet the ESRI's predictions are simply the latest – if most stark – indications of a return to mass emigration among Ireland's unemployed, as the downturn has continued to take its toll. In September, for example, the Central Statistics Office revealed that Ireland witnessed a return to net emigration for the first time si

Being strangled by the monthly mortgage noose... OVER the past number of weeks and months, we have become used to speaking in billions. Seven billion to recapitalise AIB and Bank of Ireland; a €22bn cash injection into Anglo Irish Bank; €81bn worth of developer loans transferred to NAMA -- the list and amounts of money appear to be endless. But for many, the only real amount that matters is the one they need to pay each month to keep a roof over their head. Unfortunately, for tens of thousands of Irish families, this amount is far greater than their income and the mortgage rope around their neck simply gets tighter and tighter each month. According to the Financial Regulator, more than 28,000 homeowners have not been able to repay their mortgage for more than three months. Another 30,000 have been forced to renegotiate their mortgages. I suspect this figure of almost 60,000 is merely the tip of the iceberg and will only increase. Considering that more than 230,000 people have been made