House Price Database due this year

Scofflaw · 20-02-2012 04:44PM #1

THE real prices of all houses sold over the past two years is set to be revealed in the coming months as part of the Government's plan to revive the collapsed property market.

The new house price database, due to go online by the end of June, will contain the full addresses of all properties sold since January 2010, the date of the sales and the final selling price.

It is the first time that accurate information on the selling prices of houses will be available to the public, who have previously had to rely on rumour or the word of estate agents.

It is the latest attempt by the Government to kickstart the housing market, after they extended mortgage interest relief for first time and non-first time buyers for this year only. And two banks are offering homeowners in negative equity the option of tacking their debt on to a mortgage for a new property, freeing them up to move.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/selling-price-of-all-houses-will-be-revealed-3024591.html

The PRSA chief accepts that it will be uncomfortable for some people, and will be used by "nosy parkers", but:

Mr Lynch admitted it would also be used by a lot of "nosy parkers" who wanted to find out what neighbours, friends or relations had paid for their houses.

"I can understand people's concerns about it. People would see the price that you pay for a property as a very personal issue. You are going to get a lot of people who will find it difficult. It will take time for it to become an accepted reality for people," he said.

There will be no way for people to "opt out" of what is officially called the House Price Register because the legislation passed last November requires all sales prices to be published in it "by law". Mr Lynch, a former deputy Data Protection Commissioner, said this had also dealt with concerns the database might fall foul of data protection legislation.

My own view is that this is long overdue, and while it may make some people uncomfortable, it's unlikely to face any serious legal challenge - I can't think of any constitutional basis for such a challenge.

It's interesting to wonder what uses will be made of it, and what it will show about real prices.

cordially,
Scofflaw

daltonmd · 20-02-2012 04:48PM

Long overdue and welcome, I'm a little disappointed with the 2 years tbh, given the low number of transactions since then I would have liked the last 5 years history at least.

swampgas · 20-02-2012 04:53PM

Finally! I was beginning to think they had forgotten about the property price database.

I would hope that the database will be kept current - the shorter the lag between a sale occurring and it appearing on the database the better. It will be interesting to see what trends emerge.

seamus · 20-02-2012 05:14PM

daltonmd wrote: »

Long overdue and welcome, I'm a little disappointed with the 2 years tbh, given the low number of transactions since then I would have liked the last 5 years history at least.

According to a post over on the Accommodation forum, the 2 years is just the initial phase and then they'll start loading historical data. But there's no confirmation of that.

Edit: There's a single line near the end of this article:
http://www.herald.ie/news/database-will-reveal-real-house-sale-price-3024797.html

But I wouldn't call that "confirmation".

daltonmd · 20-02-2012 05:25PM

seamus wrote: »

According to a post over on the Accommodation forum, the 2 years is just the initial phase and then they'll start loading historical data. But there's no confirmation of that.

Edit: There's a single line near the end of this article:
http://www.herald.ie/news/database-will-reveal-real-house-sale-price-3024797.html

But I wouldn't call that "confirmation".

It would make sense I suppose, start small and then keep adding

20-02-2012 06:21PM

It will be a 7 day wonder then it will settle down, its long over due.

View · 20-02-2012 06:37PM

Scofflaw wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/selling-price-of-all-houses-will-be-revealed-3024591.html

The PRSA chief accepts that it will be uncomfortable for some people, and will be used by "nosy parkers", but:

My own view is that this is long overdue, and while it may make some people uncomfortable, it's unlikely to face any serious legal challenge - I can't think of any constitutional basis for such a challenge.

It's interesting to wonder what uses will be made of it, and what it will show about real prices.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Isn't it just amazing how all the political problems associated with this idea can just disappear now whereas they were insurmountable when we were looking at double digit property price rises every year?

I guess it is a bit like how we can suddenly have multiple property taxes (i.e. NPPR & Household Charge) now whereas they were just impossible to introduce in the past...

MadsL · 21-02-2012 12:17AM

Scofflaw wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/selling-price-of-all-houses-will-be-revealed-3024591.html

About. F*king. Time.

thebman · 21-02-2012 12:33AM

I'm sure they will leave a loophole to obfuscate the prices.

Too many politicians heavily invested in property.

later12 · 22-02-2012 01:31AM

thebman wrote: »

I'm sure they will leave a loophole to obfuscate the prices.

Too many politicians heavily invested in property.

The information already exists, and is accessible to estate agents. It just isn't public. I don't think it is particularly credible that it will not be made public at this late stage.

bagsmcg · 22-02-2012 11:09PM

Interesting to find out what my house is worth given that it's on the market for three years an is effectively worth nothing because I cann't sell it. Have no doubt that the information will be used to calculate a generalised property tax regaardless of a persons particular circumstance. Watch this space.

jased10s · 22-02-2012 11:28PM

so how does this affect NAMA's profit forecast ?

They apparantly own a hell of a lot of properties and need to sell at a profit.

hognef · 22-02-2012 11:48PM

How will this work in rural areas where a house may not be uniquely identified by a proper address (house number, street name, postal code), I wonder?

later12 · 23-02-2012 12:51AM

hognef wrote: »

How will this work in rural areas where a house may not be uniquely identified by a proper address (house number, street name, postal code), I wonder?

Well the Communications Regulation Act has been in place for almost 6 months now and as far as I am aware, postal codes are being developed.

Even without such codes for the time being, a description of the acreage of a parcel of land or the parameters of any dwelling in the context of a specific townland, with the date of sale, should be more than enough information for even the most exact of Miss Marples.

jased10s wrote: »

so how does this affect NAMA's profit forecast ?

They apparantly own a hell of a lot of properties and need to sell at a profit.

Yes, but there's no indication this register would affect them at all. The register is an historical collection of data, it does not necessarily have any direct or meaningful bearing on future valuations or offers. In fact, most of the data will be totally irrelevant, particularly that at the back end of the collection.

Fogmatic · 25-02-2012 08:29PM

Will the new postcode system be for the general public? I got the impression it was going to be a paid-for service used by delivery companies. (The idea seemed to be driven by advertisers at first, but I think postcodes would be useless in this country for targeting mailshots, with communities so mixed).

Still, the other clues plus the rural grapevine should be enough to pinpoint the sold properties!

davet82 · 16-07-2012 01:47PM

supposedly up and running sometime in September, I wonder what sort of effect it will have on property prices...

if anything though it should give confindence that you arent getting when shafted when buying at the very least

House Price Database due this year

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