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

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 2,991 ✭✭✭PommieBast




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 2,991 ✭✭✭PommieBast


    Noted. Maybe I should play hardball and make them finding accomodation for me part of the contract.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,132 ✭✭✭RichardAnd


    Whilst I don't disagree that it is unsustainable, categorising the market as a bubble is perhaps not accurate. It brings up images of 2008, and very sudden drop in the market. This is not the same, and I don't think that it will collapse quickly as it did before. The high prices now are supported by mass immigration and a huge amount of cash both here an abroad. Neither of those are taps that are easily or quickly turned off.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,036 ✭✭✭Villa05


    Unsustainable is the key characteristic of a bubble

    Bubble and bubble bursting (ala 2008) are 2 different phases of the process



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,919 ✭✭✭Rocket_GD


    I really hope not, all that will occur is that the second hand market will jump in prices overnight.

    First time buyers would now have an extra 30k which will only lead to bidding wars going crazier than they already are. Sellers will hold out waiting for these FTB's to enter the bidding process knowing they've an extra 30k in their pocket from the Government.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,132 ✭✭✭RichardAnd


    Hmm maybe so, but what we're seeing today is rather unique. When in history was any country increasing its population by 1-2% per year whilst using a currency that can essentially be "printed" without limit? I just think that we shouldn't presume what will happen.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,132 ✭✭✭RichardAnd


    Well that means that it probably WILL be extended to second-hand houses.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,516 ✭✭✭Blut2


    The more salubrious parts of London probably provide the best guide for where Dublin will go. It followed the exact same playbook of extremely high immigration and population growth, with limits on housing construction at the same time, that we're now following. Just about 20 years ahead of us.

    Expect the working and middle classes to be completely priced out of the market unless they're living in absolute dumps or in roomshares, or doomed to commute in from very far distances from exurbs for work.

    With all the negative effects that will have on local businesses and services for even people who already own property locally too - good luck getting young teachers or gardai to work locally who can't afford to rent anywhere within sane commuting distance.



  • Registered Users, Subscribers, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,803 ✭✭✭hometruths


    Regarding images of 08 I was listening to a Bank of Ireland economist on Irish Times podcast yesterday.

    He made the point that the difference between now and 07/08 is that there are "no clear and obvious bubbles in the economy". He said it as if everybody could see advance what would unfold back then, which is a bit of a stretch.

    As I recall most economists didn't think there were any clear and obvious bubbles in the economy in 07/08 either, it's only with hindsight that they're clear and obvious.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,756 ✭✭✭tigger123


    There was definitely economists pointing the possiblilty of a bubble back then.

    David McWilliams did a series of documentaries at the time for BBC stating as such.

    See below link:

    https://inquiries.oireachtas.ie/banking/hearings/david-mcwilliams-early-warnings-divergent-contrarian-views/



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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 8,806 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sierra Oscar


    Mortgage rate cuts starting to filter through now.

    https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2024/0926/1472038-aib-cuts-more-mortgage-rates/

    AIB is reducing by 0.25% its five-year Green fixed mortgage rate, which is available for homes with a BER rating between A1 and B3.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,132 ✭✭✭RichardAnd


    Indeed. I think the USA also serves as an example of what will happen, including all of the race politics that will be unavoidable in a heterogenous society. Good times ahead. We may even get our own version of Trump or a hack like Farage will resolve absolutely nothing but pacify native discontent.

    Hmm, some did call it before 2007, but I'm reminded of the appalling words of a former Taoiseach advising such people to self-delete. I do agree however that hindsight will be 20/20 as ever. Good old McWilliams probably already has a book in draft to publish if and when we have another disaster to tell us all how we were screwed and how he called it out.



  • Registered Users, Subscribers, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,803 ✭✭✭hometruths


    Sure there were some, that's why I said most economists didn't see it as clear and obvious, the consensus was anything but. Hence why the oireachtas committee describes McWilliams as having "Divergent & Contrarian Views".

    Morgan Kelly is another who famously called it right. He was demonised for his views.

    The transcript of the committee hearing is worthing reading as a reminder. No doubt McWilliams likes the sound of his own voice, and revels in the opportunity to say I was right, but he does make a few valid points that may be relevant today:

    "We also have an issue with groupthink. Why did nobody, or very few, speak out? I believe groupthink is something that happens in many aspects. I believe that if you have ideas in Ireland which are beyond the mainstream, those ideas go through three phases. The first phase is open ridicule, the second phase is violent opposition and both of these happened to me. The third phase is where we are now which is that everybody pretends they were on your side all the time. This is what happens. Groupthink shifts because it is a conventional wisdom."

    and:

    The Irish housing market is a scam. It is an enormous financial swindle that could potentially confine an entire generation of young Irish workers to years of bad debt. Far from being a reflection of economic vitality and fundamental demand the housing bubble is, in the main, a vacuous financial confidence trick that has been foisted upon us by an alliance of banks and the landowners.

    and:

    Economics tells us that when the price rises the demand falls, that is what we teach kids in school. In Ireland the opposite happens with house prices. When the price rises the demand rises because people get panicked. One hears that all the time. People say: “Jesus, prices are going up by 10%. I’d better get on the ladder now because if I don’t I’ll have to pay another 10% next year.” A very active rise in prices, once it is allowed, creates a dynamic in people’s heads to buy more, not less. 



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,670 ✭✭✭Deub


    I mean it wouldn't take much to burst that bubble. We are so dependent on few big companies on our corporation that if 1 or 2 of these were to leave Ireland, it would be a double whammy: loss of high paid jobs and a nice chunk of the State budget gone.

    I know some people think it is unlikely to happen because these companies have invested so much in the country and they have qualified workforce here. However, these companies wouldn't have any remorse to leave the country if they can save money by moving somewhere else. Workforce will follow like they did in Ireland.

    I think currently the housing crisis can stay for another 10 years because most people are homeowners and right now, they can still upgrade or downgrade. It is mainly for first time buyers that it is becoming difficult. Once the population age more and the cohort of wannabe first time owners get bigger and more homeowners see many of their closed ones impacted that things would change.

    Which one will happen first? who knows.



  • Registered Users, Subscribers, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,803 ✭✭✭hometruths


    I do agree that as long as majority of voters are alright jack, and the government are in funds, the problems will not be solved. IMO the root causes are mainly political rather than structural, hence the solutions are political. As long as there is no political will to make the necessary fixes the situation will worsen.

    As you say, eventually the tide will turn, whether that is the money runs out or the voter acquiescence runs out, only time will tell.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 350 ✭✭SpoonyMcSpoon


    Yeah, I also think it is not likely to pop in the next year or two unless the US economy blew up which would hit the few corporate tax behemoths. Betting against the Irish housing market or trying to time it is like trying to time the potential blow up to the Irish corporate tax revenue. In terms of the potential fallout and how much it could fall; people saying the Celtic Tiger was a mad time and yet house prices are above Celtic Tiger levels (while wages have climbed up no where near as high and leverage is much lower) shows that it could be a significant plunge once it gets going. At the same time it is difficult to see how the government could put any backstop in place should it start to unwind given the grotesque money they throw at the market in the good times.

    Crazy to see the budget announcement today with more spending, especially with rental tax credits of €1000 available in a year. The government is spending like a drunken sailor and it is a bit scary to watch when that drunken sailor is supposed to be at sea planning for long-term investment and even the potential for having to reduce spending in the near future. That being said, the electorate seem to be happy to see them spend like there is no tomorrow; "we all partied".



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 2,991 ✭✭✭PommieBast


    Oh great. Just need to find something on the market that is actually A or B..



  • Registered Users, Subscribers, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,803 ✭✭✭hometruths


    Business Post are reporting today that the government spent almost €1bn in first six months of this year on accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees.

    The vast majority of this money has been paid to the hospitality sector rather than put into the property market - i.e it is pushing up hotel prices rather than rents etc.

    Top earner is being paid over €6m a month.

    Screenshot 2024-09-27 at 17.57.24.png

    So this is almost €2bn a year government spend on accommodation provision that is additional to the government spend on housing in the residential property market.

    Presumably the long term intention is to move these people out of hotels into permanent accommodation and start spending a lot of that €2bn in the property market instead of the hospitality sector.

    Luckily government today saying 2024 corporation tax receipts likely to be well ahead of initial forecasts.

    Prices could have plenty of room to run yet!!

    https://www.businesspost.ie/news/nearly-e1bn-spend-on-refugee-accommodation-in-first-half-of-2024-here-are-the-top-private-sector-e/



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,516 ✭✭✭Blut2


    Thats absolutely insane. €2bn in 2024 alone on housing refugees is a horrifying amount of money for the size of our country.

    For context that works out to about 500euro from the pocket of every single adult in Ireland, just in this year.

    2% of total government expenditure, almost double what we spend on our entire defense budget, or enough to literally double the entire national budget of the Garda overnight.

    Or most relevantly for this thread enough to build an additional 6000 housing units this year. That would make a pretty substantial dent in removing people from HAP, saving further government money, and reducing pressure on the rental market. If the government is going to spend that kind of money on housing anyone, like..

    I wonder what the public would say if asked if they approve of this government use of valuable tax revenue?

    Post edited by Blut2 on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,853 ✭✭✭BlueSkyDreams


    What makes you think the long term plan is to move them out of the hotels?

    We now get around 25k asylum seekers per year, so those that are in the hotels and are given refugee status will move to housing, but their hotel space will very quickly be taken up with a new refugee.

    We dont have an alternative to hosting 25k new asylum seekers every year, without using hotels.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,014 ✭✭✭Greyian


    2 billion euro does not work out to about 5000 from the pocket of every single adult in Ireland.

    It would be about 500 euro.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,487 ✭✭✭herbalplants


    Remember the shills only get paid when you react to them.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,516 ✭✭✭Blut2


    Oops, slight typo on the extra 0. Fixed now.

    But the overall point stands, its still an astronomical amount of money spent every year on something the vast majority of Irish people would be against if they got a say on the matter. And its only going to get higher over time as migration numbers arriving here are increasing rapidly every year.

    Think of how much good that money could do in the housing market building actual housing units to help the housing crisis. Or on hiring more nurses, teachers and garda for local communities. Or just back in tax payers pockets. Or any combination of the above.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 172 ✭✭GalwayBmw


    Isn't it a common trend to go against what people would vote for?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,462 ✭✭✭PokeHerKing


    We've plenty of alternative options to house AS. Currently the government is only keen on using hotels.

    Probably because it's the easiest way to funnel money by proxy to their own pockets.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,853 ✭✭✭BlueSkyDreams


    What other housing capacity do we have available today to accommodate 25k new applicants every year, in addition to those already here?

    How does the govt benefit from the AS being housed in hotels?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,462 ✭✭✭PokeHerKing


    Refugee camps could be setup in any number of mainland or offshore island destinations.

    TDs mates of mates, boards of directors, family, freinds. All of the hotels/buildings being used to house AS and getting paid eye watering amounts to do so have either tacit or direct links to TDs.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,853 ✭✭✭BlueSkyDreams


    Those camps do not exist today. So even if they were legal, they are irrelevant because they dont exist.

    What does exist today is the govts responsibility to house the Asylum Seekers and hotels are part of that equation.

    I am not saying thats the best solution by the way, but i dont see another option currently.

    The govt are bringing onstream accommodation camps. Thornton Hall is due to be open soon, but i believe the capacity is only 1000, which would fill up with new arrivals in less than 3 weeks and so wont make an impact.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,548 ✭✭✭extra-ordinary_


    "Thornton Hall is due to be open soon, but i believe the capacity is only 1000, which would fill up with new arrivals in less than 3 weeks and so wont make an impact."

    When is this madness going to end? Filling the country up with various traumatised people? There's an endless supply, versus our limited accommodation. The problem is only going to get worse and worse. Who is going to call stop? What way does it have to get before we declare Ireland is 'full'?

    We have to stop/slow down the increasing input of more people until we get our own house in order.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,853 ✭✭✭BlueSkyDreams


    It's hard to see a solution. I believe the 6 state owned camps that the govt will eventually bring onstream only accommodate about 2500. Open to correction on that capacity.

    If it is only 2500, given that the govt planned for only 20k asylum seekers this year but we are likley to see 25k arrive, those 2500 beds still leave 22,500 applicants requiring accommodation. Which is more than the 20k arrivals we planned for in the first place...

    Hence my first point, its hotel accommodation for a while yet folks.



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