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tententwenty
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Yesh. You heard it here first.
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Cannot blame the media - in fairness there has always been plenty of warnings (look at Shane Ross columns in late 90s/early 00s - premature!).
The real facilitators of the boom have been the banks who have been left to their own devices by the toothless wonder aka central bank.
The borrowings data for June and July indicate very good selling in Sept. So no worries for attempting to cash out now.
October 3rd interest increase will dent things a tad for a week but Dec raise will force the investors and FTBs to seriously think about fixing. 85% of mortgages are variable.
The real facilitators of the boom have been the banks who have been left to their own devices by the toothless wonder aka central bank.
The borrowings data for June and July indicate very good selling in Sept. So no worries for attempting to cash out now.
October 3rd interest increase will dent things a tad for a week but Dec raise will force the investors and FTBs to seriously think about fixing. 85% of mortgages are variable.
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bren2002
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Not actually having a mortgage I'm not sure I can comment on this, but here we go anyway.
Is it not the case that it's too late really for fixing now and all that fixing wll give you is expensive stability in repayments? Fixing should have been done >9months ago.
Is it not the case that it's too late really for fixing now and all that fixing wll give you is expensive stability in repayments? Fixing should have been done >9months ago.
Only if you think ECB rates won't go much higher. You can get a five year fixed rate for < 5%. This is not even half a percent above the current variable rate. Not bad when you consider the ECB has practically signposted two more 0.25% rises before the end of the year.
You have to take into account that there may be arrangement fees for changing from variable to fixed interest. Check, too, if there is a penalty - for example a fee of a percentage of the outstanding mortgage amount - if you need for any reason to get of the fixed rate before the end of the stated period (I've been there.........it's an expensive mistake!). Fixed-rate is useful if you are absolutely sure your circumstances won't change during the period. For example if you want/need to sell the fixed-interest mortgage may not be portable to the next property. Lots of small print to be read.........!
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Excellent article and I totally agree with everything said. It's the old politician's trick of throwing someone (in this case the elusive speculator) to the wolves, in order to prevent the people discussing the 'real' issues!
Why doesn't Minister Aherne ask why some county councils will accept donations from builders in lieu of affordable housing? Why doesn't he ask what these councils are doing with said donations? Does anyone keep a record of where the money goes?
When is the last time the Government asked any county council to embark on a big building project/housing scheme to house the country's citizens who can't afford to do it alone? Surely there's all that stamp duty in the coffers, paid over by compliant citizens....why isn't it ploughed back into this area?
No..much easier for Minister Aherne to blame speculators because no one really knows how many are out there, but he knows they're 'talked about' and resented. Easy pickings for lazy politicians who can't be bothered to really examine the issues!!
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Where did you get this figure madisona, if it's correct then it's a National disgrace!
How many houses could have been built for even half that amount of money?That's an article that really sums up reasons for the property mess we're in. Excellent. Doubt the Irish Times will publish it.
We had an anti-speculation tax on the books, it was just never implemented and then it was quietly scrapped. You'd think the minister for housing would be aware of this. He's in my constituency so when he comes around I'll be sure to give him a grilling about it.
[broken link removed]
IIB are set to release a report tomorrow warning the government not to intervene in the property market...
http://www.unison.ie/breakingnews/index.php3?ca=35&si=97811
It's no wonder they are worried by the weakening market...confidence in US banks is waning with worries about their ability to weather the housing downturn:
Housing casts shadow on prospects for banks
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Story.aspx?guid={4A7839E2-AC2D-4BD0-B069-1513F703B9EB}&siteid=
"Just a few months ago, homebuilders, the National Association of Realtors and most Wall Street analysts were still predicting a soft-landing in housing, in the same reassuring way they used to say last year that housing would remain strong in 2006.
But after the freshest figures - which showed sales of new homes sales plunged 21.6% in July from the year earlier, inventories of unsold homes soared and prices fell - there is little debate that the housing market is stumbling much faster than most expected. "
...expect a reassuring report tomorrow from IIB saying that housing market is strong, switching to a "soft landing" in a few months, then capitulation and acceptance of the downturn - always behind the curve and after the fact!
http://www.unison.ie/breakingnews/index.php3?ca=35&si=97811
It's no wonder they are worried by the weakening market...confidence in US banks is waning with worries about their ability to weather the housing downturn:
Housing casts shadow on prospects for banks
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Story.aspx?guid={4A7839E2-AC2D-4BD0-B069-1513F703B9EB}&siteid=
"Just a few months ago, homebuilders, the National Association of Realtors and most Wall Street analysts were still predicting a soft-landing in housing, in the same reassuring way they used to say last year that housing would remain strong in 2006.
But after the freshest figures - which showed sales of new homes sales plunged 21.6% in July from the year earlier, inventories of unsold homes soared and prices fell - there is little debate that the housing market is stumbling much faster than most expected. "
...expect a reassuring report tomorrow from IIB saying that housing market is strong, switching to a "soft landing" in a few months, then capitulation and acceptance of the downturn - always behind the curve and after the fact!
Tax measures against speculators would have been a good idea over the past few years but probably wouldn't make much of a difference now as the market weakens.
Speculators are going to get crucified over the coming months, not by the government but by rising interest rates and the market turning against them.
Speculators are going to get crucified over the coming months, not by the government but by rising interest rates and the market turning against them.
CelloPoint
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Where did you get this figure madisona, if it's correct then it's a National disgrace!
And to top it all off, landlords with tenants under the rent allowance scheme are exempt from registering from the PRTB. In effect, they only pay tax if they choose to.
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Are you sure about that CelloPoint?? I think I read that somewhere else but it was disputed?
That's not true. Landlords are still obliged to register with the PRTB, irrespective of whether their tenants are receiving rent allowance or not.
CelloPoint
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Are you sure about that CelloPoint?? I think I read that somewhere else but it was disputed?
Well seeing as landlords are now paid rent allowance direct from the local council, that would make them exempt (see excerpt below from the PRTB's website). I can't say this with any authority though.
PRTB website - FAQs section said:
The rent allowance system is a juicy rant for the opposition political parties. But you're right, can't see this situation lasting much longer. The horse has bolted at this stage, so whatever measures the FF/PD coalition introduce to remove this discrepancy, it will be too late, as billions of Euro of public money have been poured out over the last couple of years straight into the pockets of landlords.
Imagine if this money was spent on social housing schemes? It's a big debate (I'm sure has been discussed elsewhere). My opinion on rent allowance is that:
- landlords should be made register with the PRTB like everyone else
- B&Bs and hostels should be used for short-term emergency accomodation needs (i.e. 1 day to 1 month)
- rent allowance should be used for medium-term accomodation needs (i.e. 1 month to 1 year)
- social housing should be used for long-term accomodation needs (i.e. over one year)
The system as we have it is pouring money down the drain. There is no cohesive government strategy which ought to include: giving homeless people a leg up, giving unqualified people a chance to educated themselves, giving disadvantaged people a second chance in life, giving convicts a second chance, etc.
It's easy to justify the spending of money on noble causes such as giving people a roof over their heads - but the presenet rent allowance system is the easy and lazy option (indeed corrupt). Tackling the issues by providing a broad spectrum of social housing units, education programmes and drug rehabilitation programmes is the strategy the Dept. of Social Welfare & Family Affairs should be doing. Whilst there is some good work being done by certain people, there is an inherent laziness/lethargicy in government departments coupled with a failure by those in charge to deliver sucessful projects that are good value-for-money for the exchequer.
But nobody really cares - dole recipients get free rent, landlord get guaranteed money and government departments don't have to administer people (they just tell them to go to a landlord). It's a quick-fix solution. The only people who lose out are the 9-5 drones who work in the private sector. It's easy to deal with the drones though - just put 'nuclear power' or 'airport terminals' on the agenda to divert attention from the real issues.
No, you're wrong. Check it with the PRTB. If you are a landlord you must register the tenancy agreement with the PRTB. It doesn't matter that the rent is being paid by the local authority on behalf of the client. This is quite a different situation to a building being let by the LA (i.e. the LA do not rent the house from the landlord and let it to the tenant but rather pay on behalf of the tenant to the landlord).
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Are you sure about that CelloPoint?? I think I read that somewhere else but it was disputed?
You're definitely wrong on this CelloPoint, had a good read and I think you're misunderstanding the PRTB rules. See Room305's post.
The point is not really whether this huge amount of money is being paid to a landlord or not. The point is that it is being spent on an ongoing basis rather than using the funds to help people purchase, which would in turn, free up money to fund other areas, some of which you mention.
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