It has been an uncomfortable week for our Housing Minister with the release of new homes figures by the CSO that contradict much of the data his office has been relying upon this year. The backlash has been harsh but not entirely unexpected.
I have included some of the biggest property stories of the week below, including construction and proptech. If you missed last week’s Round-Up, you can catch up here: https://propertydistrict.ie/sunday-property-round-up-june-10th-2018/
As always, you might let me know if I have missed out on any relevant property news by emailing carol@caroltallon.com.
(Apologies in advance for any typos, it’s difficult to get good help on a Sunday. Also, I use voice to text dictation so just sound out anything that really doesn’t make sense in a strong rural accent and that should help!)
Sunday Read – Placemaking
Last week the focus was on how Irish developers and planners need to take a modern and collaborative approach to meaningful public consultation and community engagement in order to avoid NIMBY rule (*details of the PLACEengage Irish platform trial from Sept. 2018 to May 2019 will be announced later this month – in the meantime, sign up here: https://placeengage.com/*). This week I have included some Irish and international examples of this in practice:
- Cork Street: The Death & Life of a City Street – The Liberties
http://libertiesdublin.ie/cork-street-the-death-life-of-a-city-street/
- The ABC of Gentrification – JUNE 2018
- Value of homes hit by bus corridor plan ‘could drop by up to 25%’: Property experts suggest major public transport initiative a case of ‘short-term pain for long-term gain’
- Donnybrook residents oppose Avestus plan for €80m apartment block:
- Cork housing estate standoff over mobile home.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/cork-housing-estate-standoff-over-mobile-home-471956.html
Property of the week
A House Built Around A Tree by A. Mason Architects and Amazon Design Studio (2013):
http://amasow.com/tree-in-the-house/
Other Property News
- Less than 15,000 homes built in Republic last year – CSO : https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/less-than-15-000-homes-built-in-republic-last-year-cso-1.3530388?mode=amp
- Revealed: 30,000 ‘phantom’ homes built since 2011 – Properties counted as “new homes” include halting sites, mobile homes, retirement homes, holiday villages – and even farm buildings: https://amp-independent-ie.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-30000-phantom-homes-built-since-2011-37012803.html
- Dublin now more expensive to live in than Silicon Valley: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/dublin-now-more-expensive-to-live-in-than-silicon-valley-1.3527125?mode=amp
- Is it time to switch your property investments to Dublin? Holiday Homes: Lansdowne Place in Dublin is the latest high profile property development enticing investors to put their money in Ireland: http://www.cityam.com/287633/holiday-homes-lansdowne-place-dublin-latest-high-profile
- State home building loans available by year end: https://amp-irishexaminer-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.irishexaminer.com/ireland/state-home-building-loans-available-by-year-end-471872.html
- One of Northern Ireland’s largest ever office transactions completed: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/one-of-northern-ireland-s-largest-ever-office-transactions-completed-1.3526529?mode=amp
- Council paying rents up to €2,800 a month for affordable housing – Rising HAP payments seen by some as another inflationary pressure on rental market: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/council-paying-rents-up-to-2-800-a-month-for-affordable-housing-1.3528337?mode=amp
- PTSB offers to sell 400 homes to State housing agency – Lender is moving to get 2,000 properties off its books: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/ptsb-offers-to-sell-400-homes-to-state-housing-agency-1.3530483?mode=amp
- Government announces €8 million investment in apprenticeships – The investment will support an estimated 2,300 additional apprentices: https://www-thejournal-ie.cdn.ampproject.org/c/www.thejournal.ie/apprenticeships-investment-4063959-Jun2018/?amp=1
- While Dublin’s crane count is down, construction activity In Ireland rises at fastest pace for a year: https://www-rte-ie.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.rte.ie/amp/969643/
- The Residential Tenancies Board Rent Index further revealed that there were annual rent rises in Dublin city (8.8%), Cork city (3.4%), Galway (5.8%), Limerick, (10%), and Waterford (6%): https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/bold-swift-measures-urged-as-average-rent-hits-1060-471782.html
- Linesight Director, Stephen Ashe, examines the growing appeal of PRS [BTR] in Ireland, and the associated current construction costs: https://www.linesight.com/insight/the-growing-appeal-of-prs-and-the-associated-costs-an-irish-perspective#
- Auctioneer Robert Ganly joins Sherry Fitz in country homes role – Move draws a line under the Ganly Walters business after months of speculation: https://www-irishtimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/auctioneer-robert-ganly-joins-sherry-fitz-in-country-homes-role-1.3529389?mode=amp
- The Sunday Independent today is worth picking up for ‘The Property Wealth Report’, which can be found across pages 8 and 9 of the main paper. Highlights include the revelation that we now have 4,500 technical (i.e. manny through capital appreciation of their family homes) property millionaires in Ireland. Ronan Lyons attributes this increase to “Brexit and scarcity”. There is also great, insightful commentary on page 29 from Colm McCarthy on public transport in Dublin.
- Niamh Hoban writes that ‘What housing minister needs now is courage’. I would probably add to that list but it’s as good a place as any to start.
- According to Philip Ryan in the Independent today ‘Apartment owners set for property tax discount’ as Government is reportedly considering a proposal by Fianna Fáil to help owners offset management company costs (which, in my humble opinion, doesn’t make sense at all…). The same reporter also writes that ‘Political grudges stalling action on housing crisis’, referring of course to the opposition attacking the personality rather than the policies of our beleaguered minister. Again, it really hasn’t been a great week for the housing establishment.
- Fearghal O’Connor has the lead business story in the Independent today: ‘Data centres worth €7bn says report as IDA fights back: Huge development earmarked for Baldonnel faces planning hurdles’. For anyone interested in this sector, I suggest checking out the work that Garry Connolly and the team at Host in Ireland are doing.
- Richard Curran writes that ‘Nama set of make profit of €3.5bn – now comes the hard part’. He is referring to the early wins achieved by the agency by selling off prime assets and dealing with the performing developers (aka, the good boys). Now they have the dregs and delinquents to deal with.
- In the front page of The Sunday Business Post today, Michael Brennan reports that the government looks likely to block German mortgage provider Sparkassen from operating in the Irish marketplace. This is a story that we have been watching for a while and this is not a good news story for consumers.
- The former Clerys building, controversially acquired by consortium Natrium (Deirdre Foley, D2 Capital) in 2015 has officially hit the market under the code-name ‘Project Surf’. The owners are likely to clear profits in the region of €30 million.
- Jack Horgan-Jones has an article about the apparent split between Lone Star and Ballymore (Sean Mulryan). Lone Star owns the site for 1,000 homes in Portmarnock that I wrote about here a few weeks sago. Ballymore was due to develop the homes. We will certainly watch this space with interest…
- The SBP has a country homes special as part of the property supplement today.
Proptech and Construction Innovation
- Madrid’s Spotahome raises $40m in Series B round (via Damien Browne standardaccess.co): https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/spotahome-series-b-funding-madrid-proptech
- Bluebeam Acquires Project Atlas’ Groundbreaking SaaS Solution for Construction: http://www.bimireland.ie/2018/06/15/bluebeam-acquires-project-atlas-groundbreaking-saas-solution-for-construction/
- Opendoor raises $325M to make buying and selling homes a near-instant process – TechCrunch: https://techcrunch-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/techcrunch.com/2018/06/13/opendoor-raises-325m-to-make-buying-and-selling-homes-a-near-instant-process/amp/
- Bitcoin price plunges after cryptocurrency exchange is hacked – Security fears rise as South Korea’s Coincheck loses about £28m of virtual currency: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/11/bitcoin-price-cryptocurrency-hacked-south-korea-coincheck
- From “kinetic paving” to “smog-eating buildings” – this video series looks at some of construction’s coolest innovations: http://bit.ly/2gSoQEC
- To keep up-to-date on all things tech and innovation for the planning, construction and property industries, head over to http://www.prop-tech.ie, the national resource website for innovators, investors and mentors or email news@proptech.ie .
Property Insiders Guide
As many of you might know, my annual property book The Irish Property Buyers’ Handbook (since 2011) has undergone a rebrand for 2018 and will now appear as part of The Property Insider series, published by Oak Tree Press, the first three titles are now published and available here.
GDPR for Irish Real Estate Businesses
Comprehensive Guide to GDPR Compliance for Irish Real Estate Businesses
https://propertydistrict.ie/comprehensive-guide-to-gdpr-compliance-for-irish-real-estate-businesses/