Property Investment - Interesting Development

pocketdooz

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/for...st=75&start=75

Very interesting development (no pun intended) in Northern Ireland right now. This is in reference to the Titanic Quarter development in Belfast city centre. There is talk of the people who bought off the plans last year creating a class action suit against the developer in order to pursuade him to drop the prices on the apartments there. The apartments are due for completion later this year.


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Time Magazine

It's interesting alright, but I can't imagine they have a legal leg to stand on? (Though I've no great knowledge of contract law.) Yeah maybe if they all got together and used their collective bargaining something might happen, but surely that's a helluva lot different to a successful class action?

pocketdooz

I agree - I heard it from a solicitor earlier today who told me that, legally, they have no case but that if 800 or 900 of the 1,000 buyers refuse to close that the developer (Harcourt Dev) will have no choice but to negotiate with them as it will cost them a ton in time and money to litigate with all 800/900 buyers and force them to close their deals.



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McTigs

ok, A bit off topic but not quite worth starting a new thread over...

did anyone have a flick through the property valuation supplement in the Sunday Times yesterday? they were forcasting mostly very minor drops for 2009 for most areas of the country based on agents forcasts and some other independent opinion.... the worst of the crash being over is how i read it anyway.

my view was that the real drops would be happening over the next 12 months or so, are the agents in denial? and if so what was the point of wasting our time with an entire supplement given over to dillusional agents pie in the sky figures?

pocketdooz

McTigs wrote: »

ok, A bit off topic but not quite worth starting a new thread over...

did anyone have a flick through the property valuation supplement in the Sunday Times yesterday? they were forcasting mostly very minor drops for 2009 for most areas of the country based on agents forcasts and some other independent opinion.... the worst of the crash being over is how i read it anyway.

my view was that the real drops would be happening over the next 12 months or so, are the agents in denial? and if so what was the point of wasting our time with an entire supplement given over to dillusional agents pie in the sky figures?

According to figures I ran through a few weeks ago, the average second-hand house price in Dublin had dropped about 42% from it's peak which was back in September 2006, in real terms.

We are currently back to real, inflation-adjusted prices where we were in March 2004. So, the gains of the past 5 years have been wiped away.

I don't agree with you that the real drops are yet to come. I think the worst has already occured and we have reached or are very close to a bottom currently.

There is tremndous value to be had in many areas at present. However, there are also certain areas that represent zero value in my opinion and these will have to come way way further down (e.g apartment blocks in portarlington, tyrellspass, drumshambo etc.)

Anyway - back on topic - what do people think / feel about this development in Belfast ? I think it has no chance but it could set a bad precedent if it works. How would those investors feel if prices had increased and the developer came back looking for 20% more from the buyer. They wouldn't have a chance, so why should it work the other way ?


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wyndham

Provided the contract is watertight, it should make no difference if there are 30 refusing to complete or 30,000. If I were the developer, i would ignore whatever 'action group' or whatever they had formed and sue a first few individuals to complete and for costs, including interest due. They would then fall like dominos after a few of them had been made examples of, if you will. They seemingly have no basis for a case, other than nuisance delaying tactics.