Ronan Lyons | Personal Website
Ronan Lyons | Personal Website

April 2011

“Slash and burn”? Anything but! The need for realism in Budget 2012

This post takes a step back and looks at progress being made in relation to closing the Irish Exchequer deficit. Unfortunately, the focus of spending cuts so far has been on low-hanging fruit, meaning the painful adjustment is still ahead of us. Worryingly, neither the Croke Park Agreement nor recent figures by the Department of Finance show any appreciation of the scale of savings needed. The new Government needs to use Budget 2012 to stamp its authority – and some realism – on its finances. Read more

What the Friday Firesale tells us about Ireland’s property market

Last Friday saw a much publicised “firesale” auction of distressed properties in Dublin. The fact that the prices achieved are known presents an information-starved public with some very valuable information on the current price level in the property market. This post uses a property-by-property analysis of the auction to estimate the fall in prices from the peak and the current gap between asking prices and prices achieved. It also looks at the important question of the relationship between the rent and the house price and shows how this can be used by prospective buyers to inform their decisions. Read more

Are you right there, Michael? Knowing when no deal is better than a bad deal

There is an increasing amount of talk that Ireland’s new government is prepared to do a deal with its EU partners, exchanging some of the country’s sovereignty in relation to corporate tax in return for a marginally lower interest rate on a portion of Ireland’s debt. This post discusses not only the hypocrisy and economic illiteracy on the part of Ireland’s EU partners as they push for such a move but also the costs to the Irish economy if it happened. Even leaving aside corporate tax revenues, the lost jobs, income and tax receipts make this a terrible deal for Ireland Inc. Read more

An all-island property slump? Half of property listings live to see their first birthday

Today sees the launch of the latest Daft.ie House Price Report, which finds that asking prices fell again in the first three months of 2011, but by one of the smallest percentages since 2008. This post outlines some key findings of the report and then explores a measure of the speed with which properties sell across Dublin, the rest of the Republic and also Northern Ireland. Read more