BETWEEN RENTAL REPORTS, mortgage analysis and big developers, it can be tough to keep up with the world of property news sometimes.
That’s why each week, we give you a five-minute digest of all the market’s goings on. This week, Brexit could make cross-border mortgages tricky to get, and Cork gets 600 new homes…
This week, TheJournal.ie spoke to Jennie Peoples and her husband, who were recently denied a mortgage from Permanent TSB due to the fact that Jennie works in Northern Ireland, and is paid in £GBP.
The move is legal due to an EU Directive written into Irish law, but it’s not one all banks are taking. Dermott Jewell, policy adviser with the Consumer’s Association of Ireland says PTSB’s rejection suggests “a concern over Brexit, a concern over sterling, a concern over the volatility of employment.”
Speaking to RTÉ this week, Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath called on the Central Bank to examine interest-only mortgage offers, which allow borrowers to only pay interest for a period of time.
Interest-only mortgage lender ICS Mortgages say they see no issue with the product, with Fergal McGrath, CEO of ICS’s parent company, speaking in the lender’s defence. “There is no shred of evidence to suggest that interest-only mortgages have caused… mortgages to go into arrears,” he told RTÉ.
The largest approval under the Strategic Housing Development plan to date has been granted to O’Flynn Properties, a company who plans to build 600 properties in Glanmire, Co Cork.
SHD planning allows developments of over 100 homes to go directly to An Bord Pleanala, speeding up the application process. Managing Director Michael O’Flynn said he thinks the new process ”can help address the housing crisis.”
Buildings database GeoDirectory published a list of the towns with the most vacant sites in Ireland this week, with Co Sligo claiming the top spot . One in five, or 22.4%, of shopfronts in Sligo town are empty.
Many of the vacant units have owners who can’t be identified, but Independent councillor Declan Bree claims there are “banks, building societies [and] people who are fairly wealthy” sitting on the dilapidated properties.
Writing in his Irish Times column this week, economist Richard Cantillon comments on the increased number of cash buyers here. It’s reported that 50-60% of home-buying transactions are paid for by cash buyers.
Cash investors aren’t hindered by mortgage rules, he notes, and so have managed to overtake traditional mortgage-financed investors and owner occupiers in recent years. This, combined with stagnation in the construction sector and the speed of Ireland’s recovery, has widened the gap between supply and demand.
We’re breaking down the complicated world of property jargon, one buzzword at a time. This week, it’s galley style kitchen, a design feature you’ll spot in one of this week’s 4 of a kind properties. A galley style kitchen is designed to be long and narrow, usually with one wall featuring cooking components like the stove and microwave.
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