What was the Celtic Tiger like in the early/mid noughties?

graceannekelly

I was only a kid then and don't remember much. A few years ago, I went on a holiday to Mombasa in Kenya and this English/Irish guy in his 40s told me how as a young adult, he was able to obtain €20,000 from several banks as a loan with no intention of repaying it. He traveled abroad and when the banks came looking for their money, he left the country permanently.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058427336/what-was-the-celtic-tiger-like-in-the-early-mid-noughties

You could still do that these days. It's not that hard to get a loan. But what kind of knob runs out on paying it.

Cyclingtourist

I didn't borrow any money during the Celtic Tiger years and wasn't tempted. People who claim banks forced them to borrow for foreign property etc. are lying.

Ash.J.Williams

It was great craic

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940244#Comment_123940244

But around 2005 or so there was a fur coat and no knickers vibe to it.

black & white

Regularly got a letter in the door stating we were pre approved for loans up to 6 figures and all we had to do was ring and sign for it. Credit card companies ringing to ask did we want our limit increased, holiday home expos on somewhere every weekend, very difficult to get a table in a restaurant any weekend, pubs full most nights, people who never had a decent car, driving new cars. Madness when you think back but great fun.

Glenomra

I remember that there was am active forum.om this site with stories from the celtic tiger. I don't recall the exact title but it made for fascinating reading.

Orban6

I got a couple of letters from my bank offering pre-approved loans of 30K.

Big Gerry

I remember during the so called "Celtic Tiger" the media kept telling is how "rich" Ireland was but I wasn't anywhere near "rich" neither were any of friends.

Big Gerry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940241#Comment_123940241

Back then people thought houses could only go up in price.

LambshankRedemption

In 2005 I was getting letters saying I had been pre-approved for a 100% mortgage repayable over 30 years.

In 2005, I was 21 and didn't yet feel ready to commit to a girl(where there would be lots of sex) for 30 years. The idea of committing to a bank for 30 years scared the shite out of me so I the only money I borrowed during that time was 700 quid for a 32" flat screen TV.

saabsaab

Pre approved loans to people with only temporary part time jobs many bought new cars lived the high life for a while and of course couldn't ever pay them back.

Guys putting deposits on multiple houses and then sell on their interest for many times the deposit.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940496#Comment_123940496

Yes, people thought borrowing made them rich.
The worse thing about it was that property developers were seen as some kind of uber mensch, once the tide went out they were shown for what they were.

Dublin Calling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940374#Comment_123940374

And if you bothered to actually go into a branch for loan, they would give you more money and on a lower interest rate.

tabby aspreme

Was it Bertie said, we all partied

Anois_

I didn't make any money as I was an apprentice for the main years of it who was making my boss big money. As he was buying cars and a camper van and even a unit where we stored the vans. Originally we operated from his house shed. He also kept upgrading his house. By buying a new site and building a new better house and selling the old one for profit.

You needed to be the boss, so have your own company to make the money in construction back then. Mind you a guy who was in my year in school worked for a while with someone and then set up his own company in construction and had a fair few lads working for him. So he was making money. I have no idea what happened during the recession to him but obviously his company would have went bust.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940690#Comment_123940690

Bertie did say that. The reality though is in 2005 I was earning 19k a year. Someone, anyone really, earning that amount really has no business being pre-approved for 400k for a mortgage.

Also, Im not a finance geek, but you really dont need to be a genius to work out that if you are giving away basically free money for houses, that the price of houses is going to go up.

The problem we have now, is not related to that, the problem now, is the sheer lack of houses, though there are still incomplete houses from back then.

Mirafiori

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940690#Comment_123940690

No, it wasn't him. Brian Lenihan Jr said it.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940241#Comment_123940241

have you met many people who claim they were 'forced' to borrow for foreign property?

if you have - they were lying. to you. i have a bridge i would like to sell you.

anyway; one of my takeaway memories was having bought my first house, as a single man, in 2003 (a small house in phibsboro), was talking to multiple people who were asking me what my plans were. my usual response was 'i have no plans' and they were aghast that i did not have a grand plan for trading up, property after property. i use the word aghast, but i do recall at least a couple of conversations with people unnerved with me kinda undermining their grand plans of climbing up the property ladder, to some idea of property nirvana, whatever that was for them. there was just a fever with many that property was a never ending springboard to wealth.

Ozymandius2011

Inflation was lower before we joined the euro. I recall in 1999, interest rates were 11% and then the Central Bank rushed to cut them to 2% in time for the start of European Monetary Union. Not surprisingly this an big tax cuts led to inflation, which reached 7% in 2000 or 2001.

I agree with the euro, but I think this drastic drop in interest rates contributed to the housing bubble and later the 2008 crash, as did big tax cuts, excessive public spending. Also light touch regulation of the banks. Having said that the US recession played a huge role too, but Ireland was much more exposed.

dxhound2005

We all partied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK7w6fXoYxo

saabsaab

Wild extravagant parties. Helicopters parked up on the lawn. Women walking around with handbags that cost more than a small car, weekly trips to New York for shopping.

tabby aspreme

160,000-180,000 was the price of a three bed semi in the local towns around here before things went wallop, I knew a lad who got a mortgage having worked for one one year as a labourer on sites, he had spent the previous three years in prison, the mortgage was arranged by a broker so anything could have been put on the application

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940761#Comment_123940761

tabby aspreme

Nice matching scarf too 😊

Exiled Rebel

Ah it was some craic. A chippy in my home town employed a dozen apprentices to slap roofs on houses during the tiger. One day he arrives into town with a Ferrari 🤣

Weekends were 4 day benders. Not a lot was done on Mondays or Fridays.

chrisd2019

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940265#Comment_123940265

Sounds a bit like 2025 !

chrisd2019

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940536#Comment_123940536

A good TV is better than lots of Sex and a mortgage perhaps.

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940755#Comment_123940755

The 70s and 80s was when our interest (and inflation) rate went crazy (making mortgages very expensive), we had a high in 1992 but have had steadily low rates since we joined the ERM in 96.

Inflation has been low for a few decades barring the post pandemic period.

https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/irl/ireland/inflation-rate-cpi

Ozymandius2011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940857#Comment_123940857

Edited my earlier answer. Our interest rates were around 11% a few months before EMU. The 17% I was thinking of was actually UK interest rates in 1992 when they were trying to stop the collapse of Sterling while in the ERM.

5-7% inflation in 2000 or 2001 caused the European Council to issue a reprimand to Ireland.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123940213#Comment_123940213

Back then it was 0% interest and 4 or 6x your income. One of the reasons they brought in the rules was to stop banks giving out massive loads with no security. It's completely now.

They can run but it will be still here waiting for them when they come back. Back then they couldn't hand back the key like in other countries.