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About LinkBacksOwner occupied about 82%, 10% private rental and 8% social rental. They would relatively approx.
Owner occupied about 82%, 10% private rental and 8% social rental. They would relatively approx.
This was in the Independent today:
A SURGE of first-time buyers is expected to boost the second-hand housing market next month after the new government delivers on plans to abolish stamp duty.
It is now clear from Fianna Fail negotiations with possible coalition partners - the Greens, PDs and Independents - that there are no obstacles standing in the way of getting rid of the tax.
The legislation is expected to be passed within the next fortnight, presuming the new government is formed next Thursday.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has given his personal commitment that stamp duty for first-time buyers will be abolished straightaway.
Aside from several increases in interest rates, uncertainty over the Government's intentions on stamp duty is being blamed for the fall-off in numbers taking out mortgages.
The European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday announced another 0.25pc rate rise but, more ominously, signalled there may be a few more to come.
That will put additional pressure on the incoming government to act quickly on stamp duty for first-time buyers to help ease the burden of getting on to the property ladder.
Fianna Fail sources said yesterday the Government will definitely abolish first-time buyer stamp duty as 'a priority' immediately on getting into power.
There is absolutely no indication of any opposition from either the PDs or the Green Party to the proposal.
Indeed the PDs want to go further and reduce stamp duty for all buyers, not just first-time buyers.
While the abolition is not an explicit policy of the Greens, the party is also in favour of reforming stamp duty and helping first-time buyers.
The Taoiseach said at the weekend the uncertainty in the property market over the last few months had to be brought to an end.
The stamp duty reform legislation is already drafted.
And it will be rushed through the Dail and Seanad as soon as the new government takes office.
Two of the country's leading property economists believe uncertainty has led would-be buyers, and to a lesser degree vendors, to hold back for the time being.
Marian Finnegan, chief economist for Sherry Fitzgerald auctioneers said: "Purchasers and first-time buyers started getting nervous from last August.
"But there has been a lift of confidence since then, although there's a lot of people who are saying they'll hold off."
But with a new coalition government on the cards, auctioneers are expecting a renewed surge of interest in the market.
Floodgates
"It's not going to cause the floodgates to open but it will cause a surge of first-time buyers," she said. She estimates there are approximately 1,400 first-time buyers looking at property each month around the country.
Douglas Newman Good auctioneers chief economist Paul Murgatroyd said yesterday: "The uncertainty around it has affected vendors' decision to sell as well."
Sluggish house sales and dropping house prices are putting more strain on sellers who may also hold off on putting property on the market until the stamp duty issue is removed as an additional incentive for buyers, he said.
"On the vendor side there has been a number of people postponing the decision to put their house on the market. It's deterred those people who have decided to sell at high prices," he said.
Bertie's keeping the paymasters happy, it seems.
Fianna Fail - The Loss of Sovereignty Party.
Well if those figures are correct, investment is not a huge driver of the problem?
I am interested as to what is happening with the Spanish Property Market, has anyone come across good links rgearding price trends or stagnation since the stock plummet of that building firm?
Pauli, what they forgot to tell you is that any stamp duty changes are not going to affect 90%+ of FTB's. You will still have the same number chasing a greater number of houses! The Indo' editorial grasp of economics is badly misplaced here. The Indo's real agenda is that they are fearful for the ad revenue that the property market generates for them and are hoping for the best, as well as particular individuals being very conflicted on this issue e.g. Jody Corcoran, Anne Harris...
Where did you get those figures from?Originally Posted by kerrynorth
Actual morality is doing what is right regardless of what you're told. Religious morality is doing what you're told, regardless of if it's right.
I would know these figures from being involved in property economics for 10 plus years. My primary degree was actually in property economics. Went off in a tangent then afterwards into Regional Development and Regional Policy. All macro/meta economics though.
Do I understand correctly that FTBs are rarely in the market for anything much above E400K, in Dublin at least?? Do we expect to see continued stagnation above the FTB normal threshold, as those still liable for stamp duty are reluctant to trade up (thanks to rate rises)?? I take it FF/PD/Greens are unlikely to give the non-FTBs any further breaks??
Is the expected surge in FTBs likely to last more than a few months (dead cat bounce!).
The floggings will continue until morale improves
If at all. The proposed stamp duty changes will not matter a whit to 90%+ of FTB's.
well, lets face it, it didn't deter anyone while the boom was still ongoing, so why, all of a sudden, does it get prohibitive now??
Reality; govt noticed problem last autumn and started worrying, hence McDowell's possibly ill advised comments.
am I right in thinking that the good citizens of ranelagh are blaming him for wiping hundreds of thousands off the value of their (admittedly overpriced) gaffs?
an affordability threshold had to be hit somewhere.
The floggings will continue until morale improves
Economist Jerome Casey says in the May issue of his Construction Industry Bulletin that much of the demand in recent years was driven by investors and those buying second properties, rather than first-time buyers.
The level of vacant housing stock unearthed by the current census showed that one-fifth of all housing stock in the Western seaboard counties and in Wexford, Roscommon, Longford and Cavan were currently empty. These were the counties that benefited most from tax-based holiday homes, Casey pointed out.
He said that the number of vacant houses and flats in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway was running at between 11.5 and 13 per cent of total housing stock and this number was ‘‘too large to be accounted for by casual vacancies in the letting market’’.
Casey said that first-time buyers only accounted for 27 per cent of new housing demand from 2002-2006, and that new housing demand was not supported by immigration. He pointed out that non-nationals accounted for 10 per cent of the population, but just over 1 per cent of the stock of mortgages.
So investment properties that have been kept empty were bought with the intention of making a quick profit.
As interest rates continue to rise in 2008 with fear of bigger price falls, some of these properties are likely to be put on the market.
Spare a thought for developer Sean Dunne with borrowings of over €400m on the Jurys/Berkeley Court sites.
Believe those who search for truth. Doubt those who claim to have found it -André Gide (1869-1951) Nobel Laureate 1947
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