Athlone Property market?

FUBARED

In light of the current economic down turn where do you think the Athlone property market is positioned?

aka.. How far are prices going to fall.

White dargo

FUBARED wrote: »

In light of the current economic down turn where do you think the Athlone property market is positioned?

aka.. How far are prices going to fall.

The people here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=38
and here http://www.thepropertypin.com/ are probably the guys you should be asking. They all think they're experts :rolleyes:. Seriously though, if you're thinking of buying you'd do worse than to have a read of those forums.

I think in town prices have fallen by around 20% generally. I've noticed some bigger falls for some homes outside town. Depends on how desperate a person is to sell I suppose. It looks like prices are set to fall a fair bit further this year with predictions of a further 10%. Having said that, todays Indo is suggesting that the bottom is near on the basis of the first succesful auction having been held in Dublin this year.

Your username sums it up!

How far?? another 50% is possible.

It's really down to how much the banks will lend!

Onikage

Location, location, location.

People still have to live somewhere. Buy to live, not to invest.

White dargo

Deleted User wrote: »

Your username sums it up!

How far?? another 50% is possible.

It's really down to how much the banks will lend!

I never twigged the username lol. I read it as fuba-red not fubar-ed. Yep you're right, his username does sum it up.

FUBARED

LOL, yeah name said it all!

Thanks for the replies. I'm just trying to get a picture of where property is heading in Athlone. Are we looking at a bottom off now or is it in for a deep deep fall in regional towns.

I think that Athlone will fair better than most as it's a large regional centre rather than just a commuter town, many that live here also work here, also with the M6 it's well placed for Dublin & (soon) Galway commuters.

So far, Athlone appears to have had fewer job cuts than many other towns.

I believe that house prices will fall back to a level that was normal in the mid 90's adjusted for inflation.

IPushButtons

Can anyone say negative equity? A term most people know. About two years my father suggested I get one of those 100% mortgages the banks were thrown at people. I held out because all bubbles burst and it was only a matter of time before our one did, and I think it's gona be at least two years before the financial markets are put right. If you buy before the financial markets are good the you will be paying over the odds and will be another victim of negative equity. Wait until the markets are good again there's a lot of room for prices to fall yet.

Onikage

If you can wait, great. Not everyone has that option.

Rent 'till you think they've dropped enough!
Factor in the possibility of interest rates (& taxes) being much higher in the near future and eroding your spending power, both factors that will force prices even lower!

veryangryman

Deleted User wrote: »

Rent 'till you think they've dropped enough!
Factor in the possibility of interest rates (& taxes) being much higher in the near future and eroding your spending power, both factors that will force prices even lower!

You must also factor in the fact that everyone will still have to cough up higher rates for fuel etc

In reality, very little has come down in price in real terms. Sure the shops may have dropped prices ~1% (if your lucky), but factor in an average 10% wage drop for the poor bastard whose taken out a loan based on theories that the wage packet will go up/stay the same...

Im just saying, its never a GOOD time to buy a house. Even outside of the agreed price, the interest rate you get is critical too. I got a ripoff price at the peak of the bubble, but a good interest rate (a la a tracker ) . Most these days would get a good price with a poor interest rate (a brutal fixed rate or a variable one that dont pass on ECB cuts)

Summary. Buy to live - dont buy to invest. If you get lucky and the value of it increases long term, consider it a bonus. My educated guess of when to buy is to give it 6 months and lock yourself into a good fixed rate (if available). And make sure the neighbours dog is muted or non existing :cool:

Hope this helps. Good luck in your endeavours

Yep! cost of living will have a huge affect on the abillity to pay for accommodation of all kinds, with deflation the cost of these is likely to continue falling for some time yet.

When to call bottom!! who knows!

roosterman71

In the Advertiser this week it says that house prices in Westmeath are down an average of 22% in the last 12 months - or down 3.2% in the last 3 months. And I believe that house prices will fall further in the coming years.