Good morning, this post is coming to you a little earlier than usual – hopefully in time for your Sunday morning coffee, enjoy!
If you missed last week’s Sunday Property Round-Up, which was packed with construction technology and proptech news, you can catch up here: https://propertydistrict.ie/sunday-property-round-up-september-23rd-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
Last week, I noted that 6 or 7 of the top 15 UK proptech businesses aim to eliminate agents, with this in mind, it was interesting to read the following story from Australia:
‘Fair Trading Proposes to Scrap Licenses for Auctioneers In New South Wales’: https://www.domain.com.au/news/real-estate-institute-new-south-wales-blasts-fair-trading-resignation-letter-766735/?mode=amp
ALSO:
How can PropTech be made easier for agents? Key debate:
”Agents are currently under-served by the PropTech community, not because there aren’t great products out there but because they don’t talk to each other. This means agents can’t currently get all the tools they need in one place”
The Agile Agent
Getting Ireland’s property marketplace digital by default
As most of you will be aware, our ‘ Agile Agent’ 12-month digital transformation programme for estate agents and auctioneers across Ireland kicked off nationwide this month. As we are only taking one estate agency from each geographical area (to avoid any competitive conflict), we will be sharing free monthly ‘Proptech Prompts’ for non-participating agents so that they can start their own in-house digital transformation (sign up below).
**The big news last week is that UK proptech ‘Guru’ (our words, not his!) ANTONY SLUMBERS will be our final programme trainer and we look forward to welcoming him back to Ireland.**
Calling all proptech innovators, startups and businesses:
Most importantly, we are hosting an invite-only proptech showcase of innovations and new technologies for participating estate agents in Citywest this October (limited access in the afternoon for non-participating agents). Email me or any of the Property District team for further details.
To get involved and for free monthly Proptech Prompts, please
Other Property News
- Minister for Housing survives no-confidence vote https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/minister-for-housing-survives-no-confidence-vote-1.3641373?mode=amp
- Draft guidelines on urban development ‘facilitate developers at expense of public’http://www.thejournal.ie/urban-development-guidelines-4253734-Sep2018/?amp=1
- Mortgage approvals for first-time buyers dip as switching activity rises : https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/mortgage-approvals-for-first-time-buyers-dip-as-switching-activity-rises-1.3642442?mode=amp
- Over 4,000 mortgages approved last month, with lots of people switching: http://www.thejournal.ie/mortgage-approvals-2-4255375-Sep2018/?amp=1
- Minister says 200 new social housing units stalled due to construction firm examinership will be delivered http://www.thejournal.ie/mdy-construction-social-houses-4247680-Sep2018/?amp=1
- Sharp spike in rent as Dublin average nears €1600, report showshttps://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/sharp-spike-in-rent-as-dublin-average-nears-1600-report-shows-1.3643327?mode=am
- The lead story in the Sunday Independent today is by Alan O’Keefe and reads: ‘Property Prices: Extreme wealth enclaves on the way’. He is reporting on comments made by Dr Conor Skehan in the wake of the most recent Daft website report, who is predicting that house prices will remain “high and stable” in Dublin and along exclusive residential spots along the Wild Atlantic Way.
- That Daft report mentioned above shows that prices rose by 1.3% since June, meaning that the national average house price is now €257,000.
- Michael Cogley has a brief, but hugely important, article on page 4 of the Independent today confirming that the gagging order inserted into funding arrangements of homelessness charities by Dublin City Council (which stopped them speaking to the media) has now been removed, which is only appropriate. It ought not to have been there in the first instance.
- There is a special property focus across pages 16 and 17, with a map showing the average asking prices and annual percentage increases on a county by county basis. Also, Ronan Lyons has an uncharacteristically optimistic article telling us that ‘Housing begins to change for the better at long last’. He is referring specifically to the increased turnover of homes, explaining that in the past, homes in Ireland were only transferred every 90 years!
- The lead business story in the Sunday Independent is that Airbnb has now revealed that 900 Dublin homes (12%) on its site are long-term rentals. Regular readers here will know that Airbnb has featured heavily over the past year and is coming under increasing pressure in Dublin.
- Commercial property editor Ronald Quinlan writes that commercial property sales for 2018 are expected to top €3.5bn. Activity to date this year is €2.5bn, across 130 transactions. This is still well behind 2016 figures of €4.5bn.
- Samantha McCaughren reports on An Post’s latest foray into the mortgage market and why this time will be different. Financing partners have yet to be disclosed and this is causing much speculation. It will be interesting to learn the details in time.
- The Sunday Times reports on the positive physical and mental health benefits of a coastal dwelling and sea/lake/river views. I am not sure that we needed to see the science on this one, I think this has been known for many years!
- The lead business story in The Sunday Times is by Niall Brady and reports that Finance Ireland is set to “lead mortgage market shake-up” which can only be a good thing. The non-bank lender is now offering competitive home loans.
- The Sunday Business Post continues to give their front page to the 2011 RTE tweet- gate incident.
- In the SBP today there is a special feature on Galway 2018, taking a look at the tech and tourism industries.
- The SBP property section today is dominated by office activity and the lead story there reads that ‘Canny investors heading to the south-west for bargain office space.’
- In the same paper, Karl Deeter calls for the naming and shaming of TDS who keep voting against housing – the epitome of NIMBY-ism…
- Rent register needed as landlords ‘knowingly contravening’ law https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/rent-register-needed-as-landlords-knowingly-contravening-law-1.3643908?mode=amp
- Ballymore founder warns soaring build costs ‘biggest risk’ https://www.irishtimes.com/business/construction/ballymore-founder-warns-soaring-build-costs-biggest-risk-1.3643829?mode=amp
- Three companies in race to develop urban centre at Guinness Breweryhttps://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/three-companies-in-race-to-develop-urban-centre-at-guinness-brewery-1.3640139?mode=amp
- Price gap widens in land market https://amp.independent.ie/business/farming/farm-property/price-gap-widens-in-land-market-37349442.htmlThank
- New regs must ban oil and gas boilers to meet carbon targets, says expert – SelfBuildhttps://selfbuild.ie/news/new-regs-must-ban-oil-and-gas-boilers-to-meet-carbon-targets-says-expert/
- Green Reit PLC (GRN) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 27th https://www.baseballdailydigest.com/2018/09/26/green-reit-plc-grn-to-go-ex-dividend-on-september-27th.html/amp
- Well done! ‘WPCI Host Second Breakfast Networking Meeting’ – Construction Network Ireland http://www.constructionnetworkireland.com/wpci-host-second-breakfast-networking-meeting/
- Knotel overtakes WeWork in number of New York sites https://amp.ft.com/content/7a5d21dc-c24b-11e8-8d55-54197280d3f7
- These are the world’s biggest property bubbles as ranked by UBS: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/09/27/ubs-real-estate-bubble-index-reveals-property-crash-risk.html
Proptech and Construction Innovation
- Are you an Irish-led or Ireland-based #proptech business? If so, please take five minutes to add or update your details to our internationally-shared listing here: SIGN UP: http://prop-tech.ie/proptech-innovators-ireland/ and 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 .
- Gavin Gallagher, founder of Proptech.TV compiled a global list of the top 10 Proptech influencers to follow – I was genuinely delighted to be included amongst some serious UK and US heavy-hitters: WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/Xwuccn7wrkE
- Amazon invests in #modular startup focused on smart home tech: https://www.curbed.com/2018/9/25/17899200/amazon-alexa-prefab-construction-startup
- 7 Questions On #Proptech That Will Make You Sound Like A Pro : https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelicakrystledonati/2018/09/24/7-questions-on-proptech-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-pro/amp/
- PaidAde wants to ease the headache of paperwork for builders and trade workers: https://fora.ie/paidade-app-4254563-Sep2018/
- WATCH: ‘This is the future’ – Ireland’s first driver-less bus debuted in Dublinhttps://amp.independent.ie/irish-news/news/watch-this-is-the-future-irelands-first-driverless-bus-debuted-in-dublin-37341362.html
- eProp cements PropTech role as well as running Guild: https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2018/9/eprop-cements-proptech-role-as-well-as-running-guild-and-fine–and–country?source=othernews
- Imagine the cities of 2030 at MIPIM Asia, Business News – AsiaOnehttp://www.asiaone.com/corporate-news-media-outreach/imagine-the-cities-of-2030-at-mipim-asia
- JLL Spark Invests in Tenant Experience Platform https://www.cpexecutive.com/post/jll-spark-invests-in-tenant-experience-platform-hqo/
Crowd-sourcing: New Facebook Group for Irish Property Buyers & Investors
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.
For the first time, the 2019 edits will be crowd-sourced and will include home-buyer and investor queries, with crowd-sourced and editorial team answers. Join the Facebook Group here to contribute: https://www.facebook.com/groups/IrishPropertyBuyers/