What is your view on the property market currently?

joe stodge

Dr Crayfish

Karsini wrote: »

Back in 2010 I rented a two bed apartment alone in Fairview for €650 a month. I'm now living in a 4-way house share in Swords for €550. It's terrible.

When I left my property in Fairview in 2010 he put it on the market at 650, reduced from 900, it was that hard to get tenants. Same one I wonder? Spiral staircase?

Dr Crayfish

What irks me is that there's so much social housing in the city centre, in prime locations. Shouldn't the workers be living here really, and social housing in areas that don't require easy access to the city centre?

diomed

donegaLroad wrote: »

Are you refrring to a time when property prices were much lower though?

When I paid 17%, a 19% rate was proposed but stopped by Government intervention, prices were lower.
But prices were lower because they were out of reach for most.
They were lower because interest rated were very high, and lending was tight.
A big deposit was needed and the amount lent was a max of three times income.

So yes, prices are now high due to low interest and easy credit.
Previously price were low due to high interest and tight credit.

Dr Crayfish

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

When I left my property in Fairview in 2010 he put it on the market at 650, reduced from 900, it was that hard to get tenants. Same one I wonder? Spiral staircase?

Nah, no spiral staircase in it. I had to leave about a year ago, the landlord said the banks were coming in on him. Building was sold and is still being renovated now, but I'd suspect it will be over double what I was paying when eventually readvertised. I'm curious.

Dr Crayfish

Karsini wrote: »

Nah, no spiral staircase in it. I had to leave about a year ago, the landlord said the banks were coming in on him. Building was sold and is still being renovated now, but I'd suspect it will be over double what I was paying when eventually readvertised. I'm curious.

I was on Marino Crescent, I love that street.

Dr Crayfish

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

I was on Marino Crescent, I love that street.

I was on Fairview Avenue. Marino Crescent is lovely; loved the area myself.

Dr Crayfish

Karsini wrote: »

I was on Fairview Avenue. Marino Crescent is lovely; loved the area myself.

Yeah I'd like to live there. Anyway I was lucky, start of 2016 managed to get my own 2 bed house not that far from there, just before everything went mental. Needed a lot of work but my mortgage is way less than most people's rent. I still despair to see what's happening around us though, some of my friends will never get to live on their own at this rate.

ShowMeTheCash

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

What irks me is that there's so much social housing in the city centre, in prime locations. Shouldn't the workers be living here really, and social housing in areas that don't require easy access to the city centre?

Is there?
So you want to kick indigenous Dubliners out of the City because you work their?
Interesting......

The J Stands for Jay

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

Is there?
So you want to kick indigenous Dubliners out of the City because you work their?
Interesting......

Don't you mean 'indolent'?

ShowMeTheCash

McGaggs wrote: »

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

Is there?
So you want to kick indigenous Dubliners out of the City because you work their?
Interesting......

Don't you mean 'indolent'?

So people in social housing are lazy?
Another interesting view point!

Geuze

Dohnjoe wrote: »

Absolutely, we have a dreadful habit of genuinely thinking we have it so bad - I live in Europe and I pay eye watering amounts of tax compared to my Irish friends

Yes.

It's well known that direct taxes and overall taxes are lower here than in most countries.

However, out top MTR does start very early, at approx 35-36k, so people have the perception that Ireland is a high-tax country.

The J Stands for Jay

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

So people in social housing are lazy?
Another interesting view point!

Nah, just having a wind-up.

The point I think the other poster is trying to make is that there was no reason to house those people in those locations, and they should be used in an economically productive manner.

When they originally applied for social housing, they should have been placed elsewhere, somewhere better for them. They didn't live in that location before they were placed there, so you can't argue that they are from there.

Geuze

Cina wrote: »

The same applies to the countries themselves, though. It's just a bit like Ireland where the capital is the most expensive.

The only European exceptions I can think of are Portugal and Germany, and obviously some of the poorer countries.

People in Ireland seem to see us as some ultra mega expensive country where we're overcharged for everything but really, we're about on par with the other countries of our GDP/median wages, in some cases cheaper.

I wouldn't agree. The consumer price level here is 125% of the EU-28 average.

Price level index for household final consumption expenditure (HFCE), 2016, EU-28=100

Geuze

With prices being 25% above the EU average, our AIC is not that high.

Actual individual consumption, abbreviated as AIC, refers to all goods and services actually consumed by households. It encompasses consumer goods and services purchased directly by households, as well as services provided by non-profit institutions and the government for individual consumption (e.g., health and education services). In international comparisons, the term is usually preferred over the narrower concept of household consumption, because the latter is influenced by the extent to which non-profit institutions and general government act as service providers.

ShowMeTheCash

McGaggs wrote: »

Nah, just having a wind-up.

The point I think the other poster is trying to make is that there was no reason to house those people in those locations, and they should be used in an economically productive manner.

When they originally applied for social housing, they should have been placed elsewhere, somewhere better for them. They didn't live in that location before they were placed there, so you can't argue that they are from there.

Thing about social housing it really is not to supply the need of the working class. You could argue if you are single with no family then you why should you be closer to amenaties such as school, shops, hospitals? Single working class people tend move a lot more so again why would you have a single professional close to schools.... I get the idea but it's far more complicated than the last poster seems to suggest.

BillyBobBS

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

What irks me is that there's so much social housing in the city centre, in prime locations. Shouldn't the workers be living here really, and social housing in areas that don't require easy access to the city centre?

People in social housing work so your point makes zero sense.

nice_guy80

build more houses
private and 'social'

councils stopped large scale building in the 70s or 80s when the rates were abolished.
they need to get back to this.

take the savings from paying off our bonds early and start building houses.
the EIF (european investment fund) will give funding to build these.

speed up the process hugely by going for timber frame panel houses. they can be made off site and craned into position, blocks and windows put in within 10 days. upscale a few of the existing factories and you could build an estate of 50 houses in 6 months.

whisky_galore

The space over shops in towns and cities needs to be freed up for living space, every other 'normal' city in Europe has living areas over businesses, somehow they nearly all seem to be gathering dust here, but of course we'll find excuses not to use them.

Dr Crayfish

whisky_galore wrote: »

The space over shops in towns and cities needs to be freed up for living space, every other 'normal' city in Europe has living areas over businesses, somehow they nearly all seem to be gathering dust here, but of course we'll find excuses not to use them.

Yeah I noticed that here. My friend lives in Munich and where he is there are tonnes of blocks of nice flats, but on the ground floor of each there are shops and cafes and restaurants etc. None of them ever seem that busy but I don't think it's very expensive to run businesses there like it is here, so the overheads wouldn't be huge, you can get by if it's ticking over. They should build tall apartment blocks here but offer incentives for shops and cafes to open on the ground floors.

Richard Hillman

McGaggs wrote: »

Nobody wants us and our inability to repossess the asset securing the loan. The insurers are scared of our delicate necks.

Totally understandable but the point is that they shouldn't be allowed to refuse us their service because of what country we are in. It is a single market.

The J Stands for Jay

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Totally understandable but the point is that they shouldn't be allowed to refuse us their service because of what country we are in. It is a single market.

You can't force them to spend money to enter a market they don't believe they can make money off.

Route1

Route1 wrote: »

House prices spiralling out of control, particularly in Dublin. A shortage of rental accommodation sees rents at and all time high?
What do you see as the solution?

I'm curious... how are house prices spiralling out of control outside of Dublin?

There are heaps of houses/apartments in the Midlands and other parts of the country that have been on the market for months without getting a buyer even close to the prices being demanded in Dublin.

I have a house in Athlone and an apartment just outside Cork. Rents are reasonably priced to pay my mortgages but I'm not making much in the way of actual profit after expenses (last year I made 1k profit from my cork property once all the government taxes, fees, and house maintenance was factored in). Housing prices haven't jumped that much beyond around 30k from the recession and are nowhere close to pre-recession times.

Most of the house/apartment owners I know around my properties are still in negative equity and would love the opportunity to sell their places. Now, I could be wrong here. I tend to just look at the immediate areas around my own properties for the prices, but I don't think I am wrong. Are there any statistics showing this crisis for the rest of the country?

If you want a decent solution, lower taxes on selling a property, and the costs of the solicitors... then owners of property would be much quicker to sell a place. Also, put in some encouragement for those living in Dublin to move out into the countryside, but few people really want to commute any real distance.

But TBH if the government really cared about the housing in Dublin, we would see apartment complexes 20-30 floors tall being built with the proper infrastructure/services to support them. Take inspiration from countries with high populations like in Asia, who have apartment building complexes housing tens of thousands of people...

nice_guy80

whisky_galore wrote: »

The space over shops in towns and cities needs to be freed up for living space, every other 'normal' city in Europe has living areas over businesses, somehow they nearly all seem to be gathering dust here, but of course we'll find excuses not to use them.

the government removed the tax credit for building owners
to do this a few years back
that's why most town centres are uninhabited.

Zebra3

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm curious... how are house prices spiralling out of control outside of Dublin?

In Kildare, Wicklow, Meath and Louth as parts of those counties are long since in the Dublin commuter belt.

Apparently rising in Cork too. No idea what the economy is like down there though.

That’s 20% of the state’s counties outside Dublin.

maryishere

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm curious... how are house prices spiralling out of control outside of Dublin?

There are heaps of houses/apartments in the Midlands and other parts of the country that have been on the market for months without getting a buyer even close to the prices being demanded in Dublin.

I have a house in Athlone and an apartment just outside Cork. Rents are reasonably priced to pay my mortgages but I'm not making much in the way of actual profit after expenses (last year I made 1k profit from my cork property once all the government taxes, fees, and house maintenance was factored in). Housing prices haven't jumped that much beyond around 30k from the recession and are nowhere close to pre-recession times.

Most of the house/apartment owners I know around my properties are still in negative equity and would love the opportunity to sell their places. Now, I could be wrong here. I tend to just look at the immediate areas around my own properties for the prices, but I don't think I am wrong. Are there any statistics showing this crisis for the rest of the country?

If you want a decent solution, lower taxes on selling a property, and the costs of the solicitors... then owners of property would be much quicker to sell a place. Also, put in some encouragement for those living in Dublin to move out into the countryside, but few people really want to commute any real distance.

But TBH if the government really cared about the housing in Dublin, we would see apartment complexes 20-30 floors tall being built with the proper infrastructure/services to support them. Take inspiration from countries with high populations like in Asia, who have apartment building complexes housing tens of thousands of people...

Correct. A typical house in Longford is about €80,000 it said on the news, in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown its over half a million.

The government reversed its policy on decentralisation, and all new jobs this past ten or 12 years have gone to Dublin, so it is the author of its own misfortune. Bad planning again in Ireland.

whisky_galore

nice_guy80 wrote: »

the government removed the tax credit for building owners
to do this a few years back
that's why most town centres are uninhabited.

If all that unused space was occupied, the uni, college and language students, the baristas, cooks, cleaners and all the people that need to be located there, but who can't afford to buy a car or commute from afar would at least bring a bit of life back to town and city centres instead of an empty shell of shopfronts.

Richard Hillman

McGaggs wrote: »

You can't force them to spend money to enter a market they don't believe they can make money off.

They already in the market. It's a single market.

Lollipops23

My OH bought an apartment last year; we viewed maybe 12 places and bid on 4.

Several times we went to view, there was at least one couple about our age and also several men in their 60s, clearly buying as an investment property. They were able to outbid us at every turn. It felt like a double smack- we weren't able get our feet onto the property ladder and these guys were going to be renting the properties to people our age at extortionate rates.

Even in the past year the market has gone so bad that we wouldn't be able to get onto the ladder now.

pwurple

That price index omits the three most expensive things on my balance sheet. 
-Childcare
-Accommodation
-Transport

I was talking to a guy who was moaning about the price of sending his two kids to college... 12k in fees a year, godawful. Except my childcare fees are around 18k a year for two small kids, so I was like, jeez you're getting off light! Mortgage is ~12k per year, but there's also utilities, repairs and maintenance etc on a house. Brings it up to 16k. Family cars used to cost us about 5-6k, down to under 2k now with one electric & one diesel. That's  36k after tax required for a household with 2 children, before anyone gets food or a pair of shoes, or anything else listed in that index. And remember, we have to earn 75k gross just to cover that. 
So, yeah. Of my top three expensive things, housing is number 2.  
It is obviously an asset, because it costs money to build, to run, and houses can be differentiated based on quality. If it became value-less, then why would you spend your money maintaining it at any standard. It becomes a race to the bottom. Cheapest of the cheap.