House prices

[MichaelHennigan]

There is the crazy development land system in a country that's not overpopulated; tax of 28% on the average house and once people get on a property ladder, they perceive rising prices to be in their interest.

Accordingly, politicians see no value in proposing significant reforms of the current corrupt system.

Another issue sis that the number of units per thousand inhabitants is below European levels.

The following comes from a March 2005 report:

Ireland has one of the highest home ownership rates in the EU, with 78% of households living in the tenure. A further 9% live in social rented housing, consisting of local authority housing and various forms of voluntary and co-operative housing, and another 9% are in the private rented sector. The country had the lowest number of dwellings per thousand inhabitants in the EU in 1980 and, despite the huge recent building boom, is still at the bottom of the housing availability league. This is reflected in the relatively high average household size (3 persons in 2001), though this was far less than the 4 persons per dwelling in 1971.


Josef Stalin and the crazy Irish development land system

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusiness ... 4680.shtml

[Libero]

or are you inferring that i should have used my calculator and devised a scheme whereby i do not pay huge amounts of money to the bank et al by living at home till i'm 35?

There's always renting...

[stringjack]

Another issue sis that the number of units per thousand inhabitants is below European levels.

What's the average space per unit?

[eurocrat]

While I expcet that buying a house is beyond the limits of many young 'ordinary' couples (Wife: Gaurd, Husband: Nurse type couple) I don't know if that is a drastic as it may appear.

As Libero pointed out, some people are still obviously able to afford to buy a house.

It quite normal in many country for young couples to rent for 5-10 years before considering buying a house. This is not the end of the world, but to Irish people it sounds crazy.

The Irish love property. There is something deep with our physe that tells us we have to own our land. This had been an overlooked factor in the property boom (although D McWilliams may have mentioned it).

Today the Irish are not just content with owning thier own house but also want to own some Croats house aswell. I don't see anything wrong with this as property is quite a solid investment and our oversees purchase will be a legacy of the boom.

When I was home at Christmas I saw an big ad on the door of an auctioneers advertising property in Berlin. Never in that darkest days od closed Sugar Factories and Saw Doctors on Top of the Pops did I ever think that Tuam folk would be going around buying German propetry. (for the record I think buying property in Berlin is a wondeful idea, If I ahd a spare €200,000 that probably what I would do with it)

I think I am rambling a bit here, but my ulitmate point is that maybe the Irish need to start considering continetal style long term leases to counteract the high property prices.

I really hope that a big crash can be avaoided. Some many ordinary folks rely on the price of thier houses in Ireland. I know students in college whoare calculating thier inheritance already.

[MichaelHennigan]

New and existing house sizes differ significantly among the countries surveyed. The average new house size in Australia and the United States is about 2,200 square feet, Canada and New Zealand 1,900 square feet and both the United Kingdom and Ireland an extraordinarily low 815 square feet and 930 square feet respectively. New British housing is now only 15% larger than the former East German slab developments, of which one million have been vacated, since the reunification of East and West Germany.

see:

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusiness ... 4604.shtml

[eurocrat]

Thats an extermly interesting article, but I would rather see a comparison of house size withing the EU rather than accross the Anglophonic World. There's far more space to build in Canada then in England. A comparison of Dublin and, say, Stockholm would be more valid than Dublin and Detriot.

I'm pretty sure that the size of houses built in the countryside has increased in the past 15 years while it has dwindled in Urban centres. Also people used always build on at least half acre sites and now those sites are getting down towards 1/3 acre and 1/4 acres. Shame. I think a big graden is better than a biug house.

The Austrian have wonderful house. Anyone thats every been though Tyrol will know this. However the sites they built these lovely houses (3 story wooden jobs often) are really small.

[james5001]

This is the sort of stuff that made the 20th century the most interesting of times. Dont you want to live through a thrilling historical epoch?

In hindsight, no.

[Old Irish]

In hindsight, no.

Ha ha love it