Irish Property Market chat II - *read mod note post #1 before posting*

council don’t have houses to sell to tenants and haven’t had for years. It’s affordable housing where the shared ownership is used to help people buy a house.

Personally I don’t think it was that bad; it was a period of maybe 6/7 years of uncertainty after 20 years of prosperity and the last 9/10 years have been prosperous. So, in the last 30 years we have only had 6/7 years of negativity in the property market.

its so frustrating in the market at the moment. We are lucky enough to own our home but we have awful neighbours and would like to move. The market just seems completely paralyzed, there is so little stock going on and what is there is just going nuts in terms of prices. Seems to be plenty of cash buyers around also that are blowing people like ourselves out of the market the rare time something comes on. The other thing I have seen is old people holding onto houses looking for mad prices for what they have so they can afford to downsize. the whole thing is paralyzed

You make a strong argument for the state to implement a mid tier affordable rent market

Gifting people subsidised homes only helps a few individuals here and now and the State land is gone

In 10 years time we will have the same problem but the state will have more debt and less land and be at the mercy of developers.

I really don't understand the opposition to it. Is it that people want the state to pay the maximum price, thus increasing there own home value

Fools gold if it is as your only blowing another asset price bubble. We haven't paid back the damage from the last one. A convenient fact some Posters are forgetting this morning

In 2009, I was on minimum wage for 6 months in Athlone. I was able to rent an ensuite room in a pretty nice house just 5 minutes walk from work for 250 euro. I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of buying property at that time (nor did I want want to), but when your rent is less than 20% of your monthly income and you're pretty comfortable, it's not such an issue.

These days, someone on minimum wage who's renting may well have to share a room, never mind a bathroom.

Galway is a different beast, but Limerick did not bottom until easter 2014. Rents were considerably cheaper in 14/15 than 2009, albeit with the Dell rout

Even if you ignore the economic hardship, austerity etc etc of the period of 2009-2015, and focus solely on the fact property was incredibly cheap to both buy and to rent. Through that narrow lens, it may seem like some sort of paradise to look back on with envy…but it was utterly unsustainable.

It was THE event which caused the housing deficit which many of the same posters longing for 2009 again give out most about today. It may have been brief relief for the renters of that era, and permanently good for the cash rich of that era (who could buy), but the 100s of thousands of units that weren’t built during that period, and all the tradespeople that left, and all the potential tradespeople who didn’t do an apprenticeship is precisely the cause of the pain of today.

Wishing for some sort of Armageddon in the property market whilst simultaneously complaining there are not enough properties being built is hypocritical in my opinion.

Genuine question on the 2nd piece because I think you've made an interesting point, how do you think the problem should be solved?

I still can't get my head around the paradox that rising prices to stimulate supply will somehow generate adequate levels to eventually reduce demand ergo prices. Should help with rents, but I can't see how people will be able to meet asking prices that can't already presently.

I'm not wishing for a crash. As it is, I'd lose out. My point is merely that for many people, a 2008 crash would be a welcome thing.

One thing I do believe is that nothing short of a crash is going to change the situation here regarding housing. There was talk earlier in the thread that something in the order of 1.5 million units will be needed in the next 25 years to keep up with the demand. In my own town in Wexford, there are already major congestion problems due to population rises, and there are another 1000 houses planned for the area.

For how long can chasing the infinite growth fairy be sustained? Is it even worth it? The only things that I see in the future are rising costs, declining quality of life, environmental damage and social decay.

Anyways, that just my two cents.

If you're consistently getting out bid on unremarkable houses or apartments by investors, the state or otherwise whilst simultaneously paying thousands on rent each month and watching your expenditures rise, how do you think you'd feel? As I've said before, if I were in that situation and I was ten years younger, I'd take my chances in a crash.