AroundtheBlock:Quietly optimistic seems to be the mood out there in both the residential and commercial property markets as they finally move up a gear after what seemed like the longest ever Christmas break. While agents had anticipated a flood of new properties coming on the market in January, the supply has been much more measured as sellers reassess the prospects for the coming year.
Meanwhile, the build-up of unsold second-hand houses from the final quarter of 2006 is slowly being sold as sellers accept more realistic offers. The result is that the numbers overhanging the market are considerably less than expected, allowing the agents to concentrate on the spring selling season. The fact that 60 per cent of SSIA holders will be getting their money from April onwards is bound to give a fillip to the market, though much of this is likely to be spent on stamp duty for those in the mood to trade up.
Though interest rates are likely to rise by another quarter of a percent in March, competition in the mortgage market is about to intensify with the Halifax's audacious offer of preferential terms to well-heeled investors. The other institutions will inevitably respond to protect those much cherished clients with less than 50 per cent still owing on their mortgages. They claim that inertia will ensure that customers stay loyal - the bother of filling out all those forms - but Halifax's offer still has undoubted appeal, especially in the cash-strapped, post-Christmas period.
Tasty equity stakes
With so many of the commercial agents now selling equity stakes to international firms, everyone is wondering who will be next on the block. Look out for hungry, fast-growing firms who are rapidly building up profile and turnover to attract the attention of the international players. There seems to be a general acceptance that amalgamation with a big London name is imperative to ensure a flow of incoming business now that so many overseas firms are moving into Ireland. The stunning performance by the local market in recent years has attracted international attention, not least by worldwide firms who want a bit of the action. Expect at least one or two firms to have new affiliations in the next few months, though the choice is becoming more limited all the time. Still, companies like Bannon Commercial, DNG, HT Meagher O'Reily and Finnegan Menton must be fending off the offers, but for how long?
Pain for affordable gain
Though he's one of the most dynamic developers in the country, Bernard McNamara has become something of a rare sighting around Dublin or in his native Clare, such are the demands of his huge portfolio and construction company. However, you can run him to ground next Tuesday evening at an unlikely event - a Green Party ideas meeting on affordable housing in Dublin to be held at the Cultivate Centre in Temple Bar. John Gormley, Eamon Ryan and Ciaran Cuffe will be hosting the meeting to consider solutions to the shortage of affordable housing in Dublin.
Meanwhile the Government-appointed Affordable Homes Partnership may finally be about to make a breakthrough, though in most cases it will involve a variation of the local authorities' development plans. If the councils are agreeable, they could provide 1,100 affordable homes in the coming year. For openers, Sean Mulryan's Ballymore has offered to donate 184 acres of land it owns in Liffey Valley to South Dublin County Council for amenity purposes provided it is allowed to develop 115 acres at St Edmundsbury in Lucan for a mix of affordable and open market homes.
In Killiney, Ellen Construction has offered 70 per cent of the 140 homes proposed for a 3.7-acre site on chic Military Road as affordable housing. The deal would require the local authority to remove a planning restriction on the site. No pain, no gain. Go for it!
