Media articles from THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

[martymcfly]

yes that will be the case.

The problem is the person who is prudent and has savings will have to pay, whilst the person who spends, spends spends, will get forberance. They both sould be living in a similar house with similar debt.

If someone "spends spends spends" then surely they are capable of servicing the mortgage from their income and so will not be suitable for forbearance?

[yadayada]

If someone "spends spends spends" then surely they are capable of servicing the mortgage from their income and so will not be suitable for forbearance?

This can easily be checked. If your bank account indicates your taste for expensive cars, cash withdrawals late at the weekends in the "entertainment districts" and transfers into Barbados dollars, expect less forbearance. Apparently this has been a problem in south county dublin - missing out on the mortgage, but the children are still at private school. Must keep up appearances.

[2buyornot2buy]

This can easily be checked. If your bank account indicates your taste for expensive cars, cash withdrawals late at the weekends in the "entertainment districts" and transfers into Barbados dollars, expect less forbearance. Apparently this has been a problem in south county dublin - missing out on the mortgage, but the children are still at private school. Must keep up appearances.

I know someone who hasn't paid their Dublin mortgage for 4 years. Works up north, hasn't been pursued, and still has the place.

[yadayada]

If someone "spends spends spends" then surely they are capable of servicing the mortgage from their income and so will not be suitable for forbearance?

This can easily be checked. If your bank account indicates your taste for expensive cars, cash withdrawals late at the weekends in the "entertainment districts" and transfers into Barbados dollars, expect less forbearance. Apparently this has been a problem in south county dublin - missing out on the mortgage, but the children are still at private school. Must keep up appearances.

[little fish]

I know someone who hasn't paid their Dublin mortgage for 4 years. Works up north, hasn't been pursued, and still has the place.

Not uncommon either. 1500 possessions from 2008 -2011, the majority of which were voluntary hand backs. Banks were practically barred from taking possession 2011 - 2013. The agreement last year between the Troika and the Irish Government to remove a legal impediment which stopped banks repossessing properties, resulted in new guidelines for mortgage forbearance which came into force in July 2013. The strategies in place for resolving mortgage arrears are substantially more sympathetic and flexible than those applied to NI/UK borrowers. Interesting reading leaving no doubt as to why NI has 3 times more repossessions than the south.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/owning_a_home/mortgage_arrears/responses_to_mortgage_arrears_and_personal_debt.html

Old and posted before but good article from the detail on repossessions, north and south.

http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/162/house-reposessions/court-repossessions-three-times-higher-in-northern-ireland-than-the-republic

heavens this site is behaving badly tonight

[little fish]

Ulster Bank not having a good day today.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/news/republic-watchdog-fines-ulster-bank-27m-over-it-meltdown-30738270.html

"The Ulster Bank's operation in the Republic of Ireland has been hit with a £2.7m fine by watchdogs.It was the highest ever imposed by the Central Bank. The fine is in response to weeks of problems experienced by almost a million Ulster Bank customers across the island who could not access their accounts after a bank software upgrade on June 19, 2012.

Ulster Bank has already paid out more than £18m in compensation to the 300,000 customers affected in Northern Ireland by the systems disaster.

[BelfastVI]

Sentiment in construction firms at highest level since 2000 - Ulster Bank PMI (RoI)

http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/1208/665307-construction/

[BelfastVI]

Economist says Government paying junior Anglo bondholders would be morally reprehensible

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1208/665338-junior-anglo-bondholders/

[BelfastVI]

Bank of Scotland accused of fraud by Attorney General John Larkin QC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-30378239

made it to the main BBC Business page. Lloyds will not like that.

[BelfastVI]

Ireland’s average house price grows at world’s fastest pace of 15% in a year

the Guardian 8th Dec 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/08/global-index-ireland-house-prices-grow-world-fastest

Topping global house price index signals Ireland’s turnaround six years after 50% was wiped from its property market values.

[BelfastVI]

It will all end in tears again.

if it keeps going at that rate yes. They need to increase supply.

[BelfastVI]

I thought they were well over supplied with houses when the bubble popped last time. Ot is this just a Dublin phenomenon?

Yes.

All their 'Ghost Estates' are in places that dont need them. In 2006 they set up a scheme whereby developers could offset profits if they invested in places like Letrim, Longfort and other counties that have little going for them. This resulted in litterly thousands of houses that were never going to sell.

At the moment the 'boom' if we call it that (still 40% below last Boom) is within the M50 but it will move out and lift other areas. I cant see it reaching Letrim etc.

[Shotoflight]

Ministers 'must regulate landlords'

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/ministers-must-regulate-landlords-30840896.html

Threshold said the lack of proper oversight means people in Ireland can never regard their rented house or apartment as their long-term home.

As rents go through the roof - particularly in Dublin - this has led to a surge in "economic evictions", where tenants are thrown out and landlords immediately re-advertise at much higher rates, the charity said.

Launching its annual report, Threshold chairwoman Senator Aideen Hayden said loopholes in the decade-old law governing rented homes meant it was no longer fit for purpose.

"The private rented sector has grown exponentially in recent years: it now provides housing for one in five families in Ireland," she said.

"However, there are chronic failings in the sector that need to be addressed before anyone living in a rented dwelling can really consider it their long-term home."

The Residential Tenancies Act was enacted in 2004 to regulate landlords and rented homes.

But there are now twice as many rental properties in the country, and the legislation cannot keep pace with the changing conditions, Ms Hayden has warned.

"Loopholes in the law are enabling landlords to remove tenants from their homes and then re-advertise the same properties at substantially higher rents," she added.

[carrick01]

Reported on rte - Dublin driving growth

http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2015/0102/669965-property-price-2015/

Estate agency expects more property price growth

Property prices are likely to rise further in the year ahead as demand continues to outstrip supply, according to estate agency Sherry Fitzgerald

Last year saw national property prices rise by 16.3%, according to the firm, with much of that growth coming from the Dublin market.

A lack of supply was a major factor in this growth and the company does not see this issue being resolved in the short-term, especially as demand increases on the back of an economic recovery.

The Central Bank’s proposals on mortgage lending could have an impact on this, it said, though as the rules are yet to be finalised it is difficult to know the extent of this.

Changes in mortgage rules could also have a knock-on effect on the rental market, the company said, as it may force potential first-time buyers to rent for longer as they add to their savings.

The reduction in the amount of buy-to-let stock on the market could also push up rents, it said, which have already risen sharply in the past twelve months.

“The medium term outlook for the market is more difficult to predict, it will be some time before the mismatch between demand and supply is rectified and as such some time before the market truly stabilises,” the estate agency said.

“In the interim, there is likely to be some volatility with above trend price and indeed rental inflation in urban centres.”

[carrick01]

NAMA bringing in the dosh - wonder how much the original loans were worth?

http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2015/0102/669992-nama-debt-property/

NAMA generated €8.6bn in cash last year, mainly through asset sales

The National Asset Management Agency generated €8.6bn in cash last year, the majority of which came from asset sales.
In its end of year summary, NAMA said it made €7.8bn from the sale of loans and assets during 2014, which was put towards the redemption of €9.1bn worth of senior bonds in the year.
NAMA has now redeemed more than half of all senior bonds – to the value of €16.6bn – putting it two years ahead of schedule.
To date the agency has also raised €23.7bn in cash, with €18.7bn coming from asset sales and most of the remainder coming from rents.
NAMA also said it had funded the completion of 1,000 new homes in the Dublin area by the end of last year, with 1,000 social housing units delivered also delivered by late December.
It said further housing units would be brought on stream during the year, as part of its contribution to addressing the housing supply shortage in the Dublin area.
Meanwhile, NAMA said it had helped to save 1,000 jobs through its support of companies in examinership, and cited its involvement in a number of large projects which are due to be developed in the coming months and years – including the redevelopment of the Bolands Mills site in Dublin.

[Shotoflight]

Broke solicitor Brian O'Donnell is told to quit mansion

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/broke-solicitor-brian-odonnell-is-told-to-quit-mansion-31062846.html

A property speculator who built up a €1bn (£709m) international empire has been ordered to leave his former seaside mansion after losing a long-running battle against a repossession order.

Ex-solicitor Brian O'Donnell and his psychiatrist wife, Mary Patricia, were told by Judge Brian McGovern in Dublin's High Court they had to be out by 5pm today as they could not have many belongings to gather up.

The pair, who live in Kent, had flown in to occupy their former home in Killiney, south Dublin after their children lost a last-gasp legal attempt in recent weeks to keep it in the family. They had consented in an agreement with Bank of Ireland four years ago to vacate the property if the lender sought it as security on the pair's €71.5m (£52m) debts.

The luxury house was worth in the region of £25m in the boom years but is now valued at about a fifth of that.

[Shotoflight]

Coalition warns banks: reduce variable rates or face levy hikes Government threatens to remove banks' power to veto debt deals with homeowners facing eviction

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property-mortgages/coalition-warns-banks-reduce-variable-rates-or-face-levy-hikes-31153713.html

Mr Kenny last week came under renewed pressure in the Dail when he was accused of "abandoning" the 300,000 families on variable mortgages, who are forced to pay an average of €6,000 a year more that those on tracker mortgages of around €200,000.

Mr Kenny said he did not have the power to "fix rates", but warned the Government is "not happy with the banks" who are charging far more to customers than they were paying to borrow the money.

While moves to hit banks would be popular politically, it could also frighten investors at a time when Permanent TSB, the country's' largest mortgage provider, is trying to raise €400m from the stock exchange. Potential investors in the much larger State-owned AIB are also likely to be concerned at such a move.

However, senior Government sources told the Sunday Independent that the only way to put pressure on the banks is to "hit them in the pocket".

"All the attention is on the mortgage arrears issue but there is only 30,000 of them, there are 300,000 variable mortgage holders. They are the working poor we talk about," one source said. "The only thing that moves banks is the thought of losing cash."

"The banks are seriously over-playing their hand on the variable mortgages; they are starting to believe their own spin. They would want to be careful. For all of the talk of recovery AIB and PTSB still only operate at our pleasure."

[BelfastVI]

ROI having a lot of firsts.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/court-clears-way-for-people-to-sue-individual-bankers-29453856.html

Court clears way for people to sue individual bankers

[Shotoflight]

Cork developer John Barry declared a bankrupt in UK At peak, Castlelands Construction was building up to 700 houses a year and employed up to 500

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/construction/cork-developer-john-barry-declared-a-bankrupt-in-uk-1.2410434

One of the biggest housebuilders in the Munster area during the boom years, has been declared a bankrupt in the UK.

His former home, Parklands, Crossfield, Mallow, built in 2003 on more than 30 acres, is currently up for sale. The 1,000sq m six-bedroom house has a 127sq m garage and includes a tennis court and an indoor swimming pool. It has a guide price of €895,000. Afforested land adjoining the house is separately up for sale.

Among the mortgages registered against the company is one from 2005, from Lombard Ireland, in relation to an Augusta helicopter.

Mr Barry bought substantial amounts of land in Co Cork at the height of the property boom. In 2004, 180 acres at St Joseph’s Road, Mallow, were bought for a reported price of €40 million. The land was subsequently sold back to the farmers who sold it to Mr Barry, by Nama, for €2.25 million.

Other substantial land holdings, at Douglas and Ballinrea, Cork, were sold by Nama for per acre prices that were fractions of the amounts paid a few years earlier by Mr Barry, who had plans for very substantial developments on the lands.

[little fish]

10 reasons Irish rents are so high. Not mentioned in the article is the view of Mick Wallace

https://twitter.com/wallacemick/status/665207917805748228

Retweeted 42 times

Mick Wallace Verified account ‏@wallacemick Nov 13

Mick Wallace Retweeted The Irish Times

#NAMA + Banks have fire sold large quantities of rental properties to Investment Funds who now control the Market...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/10-reasons-irish-rents-are-so-high-1.2428638

[yadayada]

The laws of nature have been broken again - Dublin prices have dropped 6% in 2015, according to rte.

[Belfast Boy]

*** bump ***

The last time Northern Ireland faced a house price crash we looks at other housing markets to provide clues.

[Belfast Boy]

Sept 2019 -

"Dublin house prices now falling for first time in seven years."

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/dublin-house-prices-now-falling-for-first-time-in-seven-years-1.4016008

"This is the first time prices in Dublin have fallen on an annual basis since October 2012."

[Belfast Boy]

Can't read the whole thing, but you get the idea...

"House prices not overvalued despite 85% hike since 2013, ESRI says."

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/house-prices-not-overvalued-despite-85-hike-since-2013-esri-says-1.4081013?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fhouse-prices-not-overvalued-despite-85-hike-since-2013-esri-says-1.4081013