Last week, the Department of the Environment published the findings of their survey on ghost estates. This post outlines what the study was – and wasn’t measuring – and why the focus was on ghost estates, not oversupply of property. It then highlights some important findings from the survey, including the scale of the problem in the Upper Shannon region and to a lesser extent in the Midlands. Read more
With Ireland’s next Budget now just seven weeks away, a plethora of proposals for what to do (and not to do) are being announced weekly. This post discusses just two measures – on income tax and on property tax – that could meet the Government’s targets of €2bn in new revenue next year and €6bn in new revenue by 2015. Read more
Last month, the OECD published its latest Economic Outlook, which downgraded expectations for rich-country growth this year. This post digs a little deeper into the OECD database and compares how the private and public sectors have changed over the past three years. It finds that the private sector is paying more to get less in most countries – except the US, Japan and Ireland. It also finds an effective stimulus in the OECD of about 6% of GDP in 2010, compared to 2007. This is largest and – as spending-led – perhaps least sustainable in Ireland and in Denmark. Read more
The latest Daft House Price Report, for Q3 2010, is out and this post reviews its main findings, including signs of easing price falls in Dublin and the likelihood of sellers finding a buyer. It also updates previous estimates of the number of households in negative equity, now over 200,000. The main worry has to be the number in severe negative equity of €50,000 or more, estimated at 100,000. Read more