Who is buying houses in Ireland?

Qualitymark

Irish apartment sizes are mean, and a lot of apartments are tacky and badly built, with paper-thin walls that allow you to hear every fart of your neighbours. Not to mention the frankly crooked "management fees" that pay for nothing. No wonder people prefer their own house.
The Central Bank seems to be showing some sense at last, with a plan to force banks to limit loans to what's repayable:

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/financial-services/central-bank-to-impose-limits-on-home-loans-1.1948176

If solidly built apartments with the floor size of a decent 3-bed semi - 900 to 1,200 square feet - and proper services and public transport were the norm, the market would see a revolution.

Riverireland

Victor wrote: »

In cold countries, people much prefer to live in apartments. You don't want to see the energy bills and effort involved in living in a house. Even in neo-capitalist Moscow, the 'in' thing is to have an apartment.

In poor countries, an apartment is often the only alternative to living in a shanty town.

A few good reasons why this is exactly the way we need not to go. There is no need for us to expect the same standard of living as the poor of Moscow or India.

johnnyskeleton

The_Conductor wrote: »

Anyone in the industry could have told you this- its been obvious since about April- and has been a hot topic of discussion among estate agents. Its almost amusing that the media seems to be blind to it- or in denial........ Investors are jumping ship. They see the writing on the wall.........

If investors are jumping ship, surely stamp duty would increase as they sell off their property? At best, they are buying less property now.

Qualitymark

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

If investors are jumping ship, surely stamp duty would increase as they sell off their property? At best, they are buying less property now.

Not if they're selling the property for get-out prices?

anncoates

handlemaster wrote: »

Not all family homes are 500k un Dublin . Dublin 15 you can get three beds for 160k

Yeah but when people moan about reasonable houses in this forum, they always mean large houses in about 4 specific Dublin postcodes

Mrs OBumble

ffactj wrote: »

Ask anyone living in an apartment, would they rather live in a house, in any country. I have asked this question often, and i find the ones over 35 or so, and the ones with children will mostly say yes.

I am in my 40s and live in an inner city apartment.

In this location, I would far rather live in an apartment - several stories above the messers on the streets most nights than in an attached house like some of my elderly (=lived here all their lives) neighbours have. It's warmer, it's more secure, and I don't have to mow lawns or run a car.

If I wanted to live in a house in the suburbs, then I could easily enough have rented one of those. Occasionally we do think that a bigger place would be nice, but usually we get over thing thought very quickly when we look at the overall pros and cons.

Victor

Riverireland wrote: »

A few good reasons why this is exactly the way we need not to go. There is no need for us to expect the same standard of living as the poor of Moscow or India.

But its the rich people (even the very rich people) that want the apartments.

Sleepy

anncoates wrote: »

Yeah but when people moan about reasonable houses in this forum, they always mean large houses in about 4 specific Dublin postcodes

Even small houses in those specific areas are expensive, and for good reason, there's far too many Irish people that no-one working for an honest living should ever be expected to live near.

Frank Lee Midere

anncoates wrote: »

Yeah but when people moan about reasonable houses in this forum, they always mean large houses in about 4 specific Dublin postcodes

The *average* price in Dublin is 300K. Which is beyond most mortgage seekers.

Frank Lee Midere

Victor wrote: »

Doctors, dentists, accountants ... anyone in a well paying job - there are lots of them.

No long term average property market depends on these three categories. ( in reality two since accountants are middle income).

Have people forgotten why prices are too high? Lack of repossessions. That's all.

Fkall

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

The *average* price in Dublin is 300K. Which is beyond most mortgage seekers.

The median price in Dublin is €252k as per PPR.

Average figures are less relevant in Dublin as a few high value transactions (i.e. Clancy Quay x €80m x 2) distorts the measure

Frank Lee Midere

Fkall wrote: »

The median price in Dublin is €252k as per PPR.

Average figures are less relevant in Dublin as a few high value transactions (i.e. Clancy Quay x €80m x 2) distorts the measure

Well we were talking about houses. Not all property.

Balmed Out

There's also plenty of people who did not buy during the bubble as they didn't feel there was any value and simply haven't seen a house they like since as so many areas have had so little supply. Another big group is people who bought cheaper properties the best part of 15 years ago and paid back early, their now looking to upsize.

witchgirl26

A few people I've talked to didn't buy during the boom as they didn't have enough saved up or other reasons. They held on to that money & kept saving. Means they're now in a position where they have a large cash deposit so they can either afford to take a slightly higher mortgage out than others or only get an 80% mortgage. They are also at the stage where they'll likely be having families shortly so therefore thinking longer term & buying a house as opposed to a "starter" apartment.
I think that's also part of the reason there's such demand on 3 bed houses - people have moved swiftly away from the idea of a starter home & are thinking "could this suit me if prices fall & I end up stuck" like so many did. Pushes up the demand, which pushes up prices.