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Home buyers opt for cheaper commuter belt

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  • 26-06-2006 10:33pm
    #1
    Navan Junction
    Closed Accounts Posts: 721 ✭✭✭


    Irish Independent, Monday June 26th 2006


    HOME buyers are deserting Dublin for the ever-growing commuter belt that now stretches as far as Carlow and Laois, new figures reveal.

    As the Dublin property bubble refuses to burst, more and more people are being priced out of the capital city and county and are instead prepared to commute long distances.

    New evidence of this comes from research by mortgage broker network IFG which shows a massive 88pc growth in mortgage activity in the country's new commuter towns.

    This compares with just a rise of just 7pc in the first three months of this year for mortgages on properties in Dublin city and county.

    The exodus from the capital is particularly marked for single people, who are increasingly buying properties in places like Kildare, Meath, Laois and Carlow instead of investing in apartments in Dublin.

    And mortgage activity among single people in the new commuter towns has more than doubled in the first three months of this year, IFG said.

    Single women are continuing to snap up homes, but men still account for more that half of all single applications. The mortgage brokerage said it appeared that men were more willing to purchase outside the capital and join the commuter brigade in an effort to acquire property.

    Shane Connole, sales director with IFG Mortgages, said: "As first-time buyers are finally being priced out of the Dublin property market it seems men are quicker to accept the alternative and are buying up property along the commuter belt."

    The number of males applying for mortgages in the capital has dropped by 9pc, while the number of females applying for mortgages in Dublin has increased by 9pc, indicating that women may be more reluctant to move outside the capital.

    Overall, the number of single people applying for mortgages in Dublin has dropped, while the number of joint people applying for mortgages has finally levelled off.

    Charlie Weston

    © Irish Independent


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    #2
    Slice
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,133 ✭✭✭Slice


    It's funny how regular articles like these appearing in national newpapers are in no way influencing the opinions of those posting on the WRC thread insofar as further expansion of Dublin seems to be the consensus when in fact alternative centres to Dublin should be encouraged by promoting relatively low cost schemes such as WRC


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    #3
    maxheadroom
    Registered Users Posts: 1,569 ✭✭✭maxheadroom


    Slice wrote:
    It's funny how regular articles like these appearing in national newpapers are in no way influencing the opinions of those posting on the WRC thread insofar as further expansion of Dublin seems to be the consensus when in fact alternative centres to Dublin should be encouraged by promoting relatively low cost schemes such as WRC

    Of course, you could make the argument that decades of underspend in the East and particularly Dublin have led to a situation where the city hasn't got the infrastructure it needs to support its workforce, leading to an ever expanding car dependent low density commuter belt rather than concentrated high density development around suburban commuting corridors (dart / suburban rail / trams / metro / decent buses)

    If this government was at all serious in promoting 'alternative centres to Dublin' then they wouldn't have shat all over the national spatial strategy with their decentralisation scheme.


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    #4
    Slice
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,133 ✭✭✭Slice


    That's true about the national spacial strategy but of what consequence that has on linking Limerick-Shannon-Ennis-Galway by railway or encouraging development on Cork-Limerick corridor is beyond me. The fact that there is no Cork-Limerick national/m-road is almost disgraceful when a Dublin motorway feeding into such a route would be better than a motorway from Dublin-Cork and another Dublin-Limerick - thus proving of limited use to Cork-Limerick commuters


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    #5
    maxheadroom
    Registered Users Posts: 1,569 ✭✭✭maxheadroom


    Well, the NSS is another example of the lack of sustainable planning which is needed to support a rail service. It also shows how committed central government is to developing 'alternative centres' to Dublin.

    The main point though is that starving Dublin of infrastructure has not made 'alternative centres' more likely to spring up, its just meant that a grey slick of suburbia has been spreading out from the city instead of some kind of sustainable development. There is a chance of arresting this spread by investing in infrastructure where it is needed, rather than the failed formula of investing everywhere else in the hope of convincing people to move away from Dublin.


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    #6
    dowlingm
    Registered Users Posts: 5,312 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    The problem with the NSS is -

    a) fatally flawed due to political rewriting with electoral considerations

    b) civil servants are not chess board pieces and having a lower houseprice or shorter commute is not the only consideration, especially in two income households where one is in civ serv and the other is in a private job

    Whether it be public or private, if you live in Dublin and you don't like your public or private job you can get a similar one in a competitor or another department. If you're decentralised, move your house and family to rural Offaly or Kerry or wherever there's a minister and that's pretty much the only game in town.

    What should have happened was that three-four departments be sent to a limited number of regional centres to build a critical mass and that be combined with a town development plan to ensure sufficient housing, schools, transport etc. Instead the "answer" was deemed to be "send a department to Ballygobackwards and let the local councils worry about how it will work" to which the civ servants rightfully said "you must be joking!"


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    #7
    Slice
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,133 ✭✭✭Slice


    The main point though is that starving Dublin of infrastructure has not made 'alternative centres' more likely to spring up

    Since when did investing in the regions involve 'starving' Dublin? This country has hardly been short of funding over the last decade so this is a somewhat warp view in my opinion.


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