Current public sentiment towards the housing market?

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Just means Mary Hanafin needs to look at the falling standards of English as well as Maths.
 
Raskolnikov said:
Anecdotally, does anyone know of a Pole or Lithuanian who has bought a house in Ireland? I never met one, on the otherhand, I know of several Indian/Pakistani/Filipino homeowners.
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There are two Polish guys working in our office. Neither has bought here but both say they have numerous Polish friends living here who have bought. They keep the mortgage low by sharing with a large number of people and are buying for the same reason many Irish are - capital appreciation.

In a couple of years (is the rationale), they will have built sufficient equity in their Irish homes to buy a house outright in Poland.

Needless to say, the two Polish guys working in the office here consider it an enormously risky strategy and are surprised the people buying cannot see this.
 
For a "Real Estate Executive" I thought that was pretty good English!!
 

but what?
 
phoenix_n said:
I would not think they clients would accept any as low as EUR700,000 for the house, however if you budget was possible to stretch further and you wish to view and make an offer we will put it to them for their decision
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I thought estate agents had to inform the seller of any offers made on a property? (even ones they consider too low)
 
Phoenix_n - is the price of 750k a new threshold for that type of house in the area or is it at the silly April/May values or is it slightly below the silly figures?

Just to put the house and the price in context?
 
Yes but most non-eu nationals with the exception of "refugees" and so on come from completely different climates and cultures, and would like nothing better than to retire to their homelands with a few quid in their pockets and raise their families there. Thats why they rent as cheaply as possible, save as much cash as they can, then go home.

Alternately if they stay here a few years they can become naturalised and can move around the EU freely. An IT qualification is seen as Ireland's backdoor to Europe in many circles, since its one of the few easily achievable qualifications that will get you a work visa no questions asked. Which, incidentally, keeps IT wages in this country depressed. There is no lack of IT professionals in Ireland, but a severe lack of them willing to work as slave labour.
 
Not neccessarily the whole picture. What you have to realize is that most of the poeple coming from these countries (populations in the 100s of millions) are not the cream of the crop. Those tend to go to the US!! These are the guys who have a good qualification, but are not able to get decent jobs (think civil service) back home as there is intense competion for them. Thus they have no real future back home and have no intention of going back. Also once they come to Europe the problems in their home countries become more amplified and makes it even more difficult for them to contemplate returning home.

 

That's what they said in Germany in the 60s when they started their Gastarbeiter program, offering foreign workers (Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, Greeks, Yugoslavs and Turks) visas to work in Germany. At the time the German economy was booming and the wages were much higher than in the foreign workers' home countries. Both the native Germans, and the immigrants, felt that they would arrive, work a few years, earn some money and then go home.

However many, if not most, of the foreigners ended up putting down roots in Germany. Even as unemployment started to rise to the current 10%, and in some cases the home economy (e.g. Spain) was doing well, the foreigners remained in Germany. That's because Germany was now where their life was (they'd got married, their kids were in school, they had a good, rented, appartment etc). The Germans learnt that you're not importing workers, but human beings with all their desires, ideas, dreams and illogicalities.

It's way to early to say what will happen in Ireland. The concept of "EU migrants" and "freedom of movement" did not exist in the 60s as the UK, France and Germany had their immigration waves. However, based on previous patterns in those countries, I would expect quite a lot of migrants will remain in Ireland for longer than people expect, and through a downturn. Whether they will catch the Irish bug and become property purchasers/investors is also unclear. But I do believe they will play a part in the housing market in the next 20 or more years as they will obviously still need somewhere to live - and that may change from a house share for five lads to three houses for a family with kids for three of those five lads (the other two having gone home or elsewhere).
 
Honestly I think you are playing down the type of people who come to Ireland too much. Anecdotes aside, Ireland is one of the richest nations on earth per head, and the money attracts the talent. Doesn't mean they are buying houses however.
 
Persius said:
It's way to early to say what will happen in Ireland. The concept of "EU migrants" and "freedom of movement" did not exist in the 60s as the UK, France and Germany had their immigration waves.
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Thats an interesting and correct point you make there, its quite likely that a certain amount of these working immigrants will stay. However I guarantee you even if they do, they won't be prolonging this property bubble for the banks and mortgage lenders.
 
Its more to do with the psyche in those countries. Traditionally the US has been the mecca for those looking for a better life, and this still continues to be the case even today. The best brains from these countries still go to the US where they are offered the best jobs and the highest salaries. Can you honestly say that there is any serious R&D going on in the Irish subsidaries of US multinationals here. The IT consultants that you talk about are mostly people who have qualified from second tier institutions and not from the premiere colleges.

tententwenty said:
Honestly I think you are playing down the type of people who come to Ireland too much. Anecdotes aside, Ireland is one of the richest nations on earth per head, and the money attracts the talent. Doesn't mean they are buying houses however.
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From today's Indo......



Number of new houses and apartments up 24% this year
Wednesday August 23rd 2006

The number of new houses built so far this year is up almost 24% on last year, according to new figures from the Department of the Environment.
Publishing the figures today, Junior Minister Noel Ahern said it appeared that the number of houses and apartments being built would exceed all records by the end of the year.

Mr Ahern also said he was concerned by the increasing number of people who buy houses off the plans and sell them on immediately.

He said these investors add nothing to the economy and were only pushing up prices for people looking for a place to live.
 

It's a bit late in the day for this isn't it!
 

But they may act to prevent dramatic house price falls in nominal terms, by proping up the rental market. Honestly I think the demographics will result in static prices (on average) in nominal terms over the next 10 or so years. I do think prices will fall somewhat in less desirable areas. And I think they could still rise somewhat in prime areas.
 
Anti - Flipping measures in the next budget?
Fianna Fail specialise in closing the door after the horse has bolted.
 
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