More evidence of increased activity in housing market. Sale Agreeds up 300%

A MyHome.ie survey has shown that Sale Agreeds in Dublin during January 2010 have increased threefold over January 2009.

This backs up what we are seeing here in Clonmel and South Tipperary generally.

Prices are down substantially, resulting in many more viewings, offers and sales.

Not all properties have been reduced, with some vendors still hoping for a price recovery.

This looks extremely unlikely in the short to medium-term.

The homes generating the greatest activity are those that have taken on-board the market realities.

www.pfq.ie

Posted via email from quirkeproperty's posterous

Why NAMA will ruin us.

David Mc Williams writes today about how NAMA will cripple the country with debt for generations (not years) to come.

Why do we need to “rescue” BOI and AIB…or Anglo for that matter.

Regular businesses are being let fail, even caused to fail by this Government’s policies every day.

We should let them fail and set up a new state bank, with the intention to sell it off at a later stage.

Let those that are involved in the other banks sink or swim in the market they have constructed.

Seems eminently sensible to me.

Then again…politicians don’t do sensible.

Posted via email from quirkeproperty's posterous

Where is the money gone? Development land values plummet!

From the Irish Times, a piece by Mary Carolan:

DEVELOPMENT LANDS in Athlone, Co Westmeath, valued in 2006 at €31 million have a current value of €600,000, Bank of Ireland told the Commercial Court yesterday in a dispute with a developer over unpaid loans.

The bank was rejecting arguments by Pearse Gately that the sale of these and other lands offered reasonable potential for the bank to recover €17.4 million from the developer under his guarantees of loans.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly said the €600,000 figure was “even more alarming” and put “into a cocked hat” the judge’s own view, from his experience in the Commercial Court in recent years, land values had fallen between 70-80 per cent.

John Hennessy, for B of I, said as well as obtaining the €600,000 valuation for the Athlone lands, the bank had also received a valuation of €4 million for development lands at Sallins, Co Kildare, previously with a peak value of some €17.5 million.

I wonder where the money is gone?

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Not a single new home registered by Premier in January

If you are in the building trade, this is scary stuff.

A report by Emmet Oliver Deputy Business Editor, Irish Independent says the following:

The private housing market could be in danger of grinding to a complete halt with one of the two home-registration firms in the country not registering a single house in January.

The Irish Independent has learned that Premier Guarantee did not register a single housing unit in January, with its larger rival Homebond only registering 149 houses, including just 24 in Dublin.

At the peak of the property market in 2006, Homebond was registering 6,122 houses a month or about 72,000 in a full year. Premier, the smaller of the two registration services, was registering about 2,117 houses per month, or almost 25,000 per annum.

Of the 149 houses registered with Homebond in January, 62 were in Cork, 16 in Kildare and 24 in Dublin. In most of the other counties there were less than three houses registered, with many counties only registering a single house.

One of the few things propping up the housing market now is one-off housing which often doesn't depend on insurance from either Homebond or Premier. Local authority housing, which is also continuing, normally has some form of state insurance behind it.

The warranties provided by the companies also protect a homeowner's deposit in the event that their builder goes bust. Homebond has been operating since the late 1970s and has only faced competition from Premier since 2002. Willis Risk Services offers the Premier product in Ireland.

Economists regard the house registration figures as the best indication of housing starts. Once a house is registered with either of the two companies the builder and then the owner has cover for any serious structural problems that arise in the first 10 years after construction.

The collapse in prices, rising unemployment and a lack of mortgage finance has seriously hurt the housing market, with first-time buyers also finding it hard to come up with deposits to make purchases. In some parts of the country the overhang of existing stock will not be cleared for many years.

Banks have changed their loan-to-value rules forcing purchasers to come up with more of their own finance. Credit standards have also been tightened in other areas, for example long-term mortgage loans over 40 years have been restricted along with 100pc mortgages.

www.pfq.ie

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First-time buyer seminar

We had a great first-time buyer seminar last night in the Clonmel Park Hotel. Hosted with Frances O’Hanlon mortgage brokers, the event featured speakers on topics such as mortgages, life cover, contracts, wills and of course property (which was done by me).

About 50 potential purchasers attended and a lively Q & A took place afterwards.

It was good to see that many people are starting out on the home purchase trail again.

At current interest rates, based on purchasing or renting an average 3-bed home, you can save €250-300 per month and own your own home by buying.

On a 92% mortgage, you will need savings of €12-14,000.

This will enable you to purchase one of a vast choice of homes in the Clonmel area.

At the end of January 2009, we had only 11 homes for sale at under €200k.

At the end of January 2010, we had 67 homes for sale under €200k.

Of these, 39 are under offer.

Prices are at a much lower level than one year ago and as a consequence, the level of interest in purchasing has increased greatly.

We are scheduling many more viewings this month than in any month last year.

So if you are interested in buying, now seems to be a good time, based on what potential purchasers think.

It is possible to lock into historically low interest rates at the moment.

Anyone with a view on this?

Posted via email from quirkeproperty's posterous

First-Time Buyer Seminar

We are organising a First-Time Buyers Seminar on Thursday 18^th February at 6.15pm in the Clonmel Park Hotel.

Speakers include:

· Pat Quirke, P F Quirke Auctioneers (me!)

· Friend’s First Life Company

· John Joy Solicitors

· Frances O’Hanlon Mortgages & Investments Ltd

Come and get all the information you need on buying or building your first home in just ONE HOUR!

Attendance is free - please register on 052 61 29487

www.pfq.ie

Testing Posterous as an alternative to Blogger

It works well. Now to see how it filters through to all my other outlets.

Posterous will update them all with one email.

Should make blogging on the move much easier.

Posted via email from quirkeproperty's posterous