A round-up of this week's property news in brief
Provincial surveyors not sold on value of merger
WEDNESDAY NEXT is D-day for estate agents and charter surveyors to decide whether to merge their two organisations.
The councils of the Society of Chartered Surveyors(SCS) and the Irish Auctioneers Valuers Institute(IAVI) have already voted in favour of amalgamation and, while the odds are that most of the 4,500 members of both organisations will endorse the position taken by the leadership, the real surprise is the broad opposition coming from SCS personnel in the provinces.
A great many of these chartered surveyors have come out strongly against a merger, fearing it would be damaging to their businesses at a time when work is on the scarce side.
However, with most of the SCS members located in Dublin and other cities, odds are they will have the voting strength to push the merger through.
Both organisations have called separate extraordinary general meetings for the same time next Wednesday and the result of the ballots should be known by teatime.
The two organisations say a merger would open the way for a united voice for the construction and property industries. On a more practical level, it would lead to substantial savings in administration costs, particularly at a time when subscriptions have dropped off because of the property crisis and the rundown in building operations.
An amalgamation would also open the way for a single educational programme and a considerable reduction in staff numbers. It will also lead to the appointment of a single chief executive. The SCS is currently headed by businesswoman Ciara Murphy(pictured) while the IAVI has an experienced executive in Alan Cooke.
McWilliams does his bit to up morale in Dalkey
BOOK FESTIVALS are all the rage and the latest one to be launched is the first annual Dalkey Book Festivalwhich kicks off on June 18th for the weekend.
The line-up of participants is impressive, but then throw a stone in Dalkey and you are likely to hit a scribe of some kind. Maeve Binchy, Joe O'Connorand Martina Devlinare all being promised for the event which takes place after Bloomsday, while local poet Gary Jermynwill also be performing. We're also promised Shane Ross.
Tony Award winner Conor McPhersonwill be there, talking about writing for the stage, and, delving back to Dalkey's pirate past when it was the swine smuggling centre of Ireland, there will be a performance of Edgar Allan Poe'swork performed in a medieval graveyard when darkness falls on the longest day of the year.
It all sounds like good fun, and no doubt it will be good for business in the village, says the main man behind the event, David McWilliamswho, having done his bit to lower national morale, is now aiming to give things a boost, at least in Dalkey. The popular economist is a well known figure in the village where he can be found most weekends in Mugs cafe. For more info see Facebook, Twitter and all the rest.
First-time borrowers still opting for long loan terms
MOST FIRST-TIME borrowers are still opting for 35-year terms for mortgages, closely followed by 30-year terms, despite the fall off in property prices and the fact that people are borrowing less.
New figures published yesterday by the Professional Insurance Brokers Association(PIBA), the country's largest group of independent mortgage brokers, showed that 24 per cent of all borrowers negotiated the 35-year term – an 8 per cent increase on the first quarter of 2009. A further 21 per cent settled for 30-year terms, marking a 5 per cent increase over the equivalent 2009.
Rachel Doyle, director of PIBA mortgage services, says the term preference has remained somewhat consistent in the last year. First-time buyers account for 55 per cent of total applications for mortgages.
Not surprisingly, the numbers opting for 20-year mortgage terms have dropped significantly, with the exception of the final quarter of 2009.
The first three months of this year showed just 2 per cent opting for 20-year terms, down 10 per cent on the same quarter last year.
The shorter loan terms appeal mainly to borrowers with low loan-to-value mortgages or those embarking on a remortgaging exercise.
Landlords under pressure from falling rents
MORE BAD news for landlords. The latest Daftreport describes the year-on-year "collapse" in rental income as "pretty shocking" given that borrowing rates have increased, particularly for amateur landlords who may not have secured interest-only trackers or fixed rates.
Since last year rents have plummeted by 13 to 16 per cent in Dublin and by over 11 per cent in Cork, nearly 13 per cent in Cork, 8 per cent in Galway and over 11 per cent in Waterford.
Part of the reason is the much increased number of properties available to rent at any one time which is putting downward pressure on rents. Much of the increase in rental stock is courtesy of developers who are renting properties they can’t sell.
If Daft finds the drop in income shocking, one wonders how it will react if the banks pressurise developers into disposing of unsold properties at rock bottom prices or if Namaeventually calls a firesale of apartments and houses that would inevitably set a floor for property values. With all this extra stock on the rental market, it would clearly send rents into freefall.
Could we see average rents around the country – currently ranging from €465 in Leitrim to €1,153 in south Dublin – take a nosedive and will landlords be left to pony-up part of the mortgages themselves? Every county has a huge number of empty homes overhanging the market with estimates of the supply varying from 150,000 to 350,000.
