Irish Property Market chat II - *read mod note post #1 before posting*

They might scrap the 14k rent a room scheme. Then you would see protests.

That would just reduce supply further

I feel FG need to be challenged on there "pro business mantra"

What does it mean? Is it creating the conditions for business to operate efficiently or creating extra work when jobs can be done far more efficiently but the extra work means business can grab more of the pie

Take the white collar grab in the cost of building a house. Our nearest neighbour has a fixed price, fit for purpose, independent, fully insured mechanism for ensuring compliance that is a fraction of the cost of the Irish system. It is also structured in a way that encourage small developers to participate while ours is a barrier to entry for smaller potential participants

Meanwhile more sauce for the industry here while at least one of the contractors responsible for defective apartments is currently building apartments for the state while giving 2 fingers when questioned on there responsibilty for water ingress and fire safety issues at the very same site they are currently working on

Where else in the world would this be allowed to happen?

Went to a few viewings in Dublin over the weekend and the EAs seemed a bit dejected and were saying things like "dont mind all the negativity out there" and also highest offers 60, 70 and 100k under asking (granted on period places needing work). It really felt like the froth had disseapered compared with only a year ago.

Property prices fall in Dublin as market now showing signs of cooling

"Pro-business" means pro MNC. Regulations actually favour MNCs as the barrier to entry for new businesses is so high.

Also large corporate subsidies and favourable tax treatment for MNCs and new FDI. Pro business yes, but only pro a certain type of business. Everyone else will get strangled in regulations and overheads.

christ.

I do not believe social housing is the answer to the housing crisis. Besides, settling for social housing is something working people should not have to do. Had the government not interferred following the 2008 banking crisis, houses would be affordable. Everything the government did, and is still doing, is designed to force house prices higher. Irish government debt has increased five fold since 2008 and all of that borrowed money was used directly or indirectly to cause inflation in house prices. Apart from these high house prices, we have absolutely nothing to show for the 200 billion euro the government borrowed since 2008. So people who do manage to earn enough to borrow a big mortgage for one of these high priced houses, are essentially paying off the government debt. This is because they are paying a deliberately inflated house price on one hand and using a depreciating currency on the other. And, if you do buy one of these deliberately inflated houses in the hope the ECB will be able to tackle inflation, you should know that even if they succeed, you will be the one to pay for their success by way of crippling mortgage increases each month as they the raise interest rates on your mortgage.

I suppose what I am saying is if you can earn an income abroad, you would probably be better off emmigrating. At the very least you would avoid being the government`s sucker which is what you would be if you buy a house in this country.

But back to building enough social housing, where would the money come from? If the ECB prints more and lends it to the government, the interest rate would be a lot higher than in the past. It would also be self defeating from the ECB`s point of view because lending money to governments is QE which increases the inflation the ECB is trying to reduce. Leftists are wrong when they say we are a wealthy country. We have a lot of debt and young people cannot afford to buy houses. If they rent, they can`t save so they grow old and die with nothing.

Argos to close all Irish stores

another major retailer closing up here, hard to know yet if it is down to brexit, high rents/costs, poor trading conditions or a more major sign of economic woes to come this year

Condolences to my former colleagues who lost there jobs in the last crash and found new employment at argos of which there were quite a few

There will be alot more if property is not allowed to correct like other asset classes have done and will continue to do

I dont understand the continuation of the catalogue, id imagine 99% of purchases were done online or walk in traffic

Argos has been on the decline for good few years now, ever since amazon prime became popular, they seem to have become ghost like, plus anytime i went in there in recent years to buy something they were always out of stock so I stopped going there.

Argos have closed huge amounts of their conventional UK stores, integrating them in to the parent firms shops (Sainsburys).

Sainsburys have no shops to merge with here.

Also, they have no other operations here at all so all the costs of doing business in Euro and dealing with Brexit fall on the one, failing, division.

This isn't a canary in a coalmine for the general economy, just for British shops with poor business models. Similar to how HMV and Game have no stores here anymore.

Irish Builders Could Re-Purpose Offices Amid Shortage of Homes

• CBRE warns rising cost of finance threatens apartment building
• Report notes “massive undersupply” of available homes

Office and apartment buildings in central Dublin.Photographer: Paulo Nunes dos Santos/Bloomberg

ByPeter O'Dwyer

January 19, 2023 at 3:33 PM GMT

Developers may look to repurpose commercial buildings into homes to take advantage of a chronic under-supply of housing in Ireland, according to research.

The repurposing of commercial properties has become a significant feature of other markets and could become more prevalent in Ireland as the country is “massively under-supplied across all housing tenures,” Commercial real estate firm CBRE said.

However, there are also “significant” concerns regarding the viability of apartment building as construction and financing costs increase, the company added in a 2023 Market Outlook report.

“It is likely that new supply in 2023 should reach similar levels to 2022, as projects that are currently under construction carry over from 2022,” CBRE said. “However, beyond this, there are significant question marks over the viability of apartment development in Dublin in a higher interest rate environment.” 

Ireland is grappling with dual housing and rental crises, with the latter sector being squeezed by a mass exodus of private landlords. On average, 40% of house sale instructions in the final quarter of 2022 came from landlords selling investment properties, according research carried out by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.

Higher financing costs will “impact new dwelling completion numbers over the medium-term” with smaller developers in particular likely to find it difficult to deliver new stock, according to the research.

Furthermore, a recalibration of building standards for build-to-rent apartments is likely to make building more expensive and “add more pressure to apartment viability,” it said.

Demand for rental accommodation will be “resilient” this year and likely support average rent price increases of up to 4%, CBRE added.

The firm also expects institutional investors from both North America and mainland Europe to continue growing their Irish presence over the next 12 months.