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Ever morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know before 9am…
1. #CHILD BENEFIT The Sunday Times reports this morning that child benefit is going to be cut by €10 a month in the forthcoming budget, and that the cut will apply across the board. The news comes despite promises not to cut welfare rates, although information contained in the leaked budget documents seen by TheJournal.ie indicates that the government will heavily target social welfare to achieve savings.
2. #UNIVERSAL SOCIAL CHARGE Meanwhile it’s also reported today that the universal social charge is to be reduced for lower earners. The Sunday Business Post also reports that tax exiles will be targeted while there will be in increase in pupil-teacher ratios in fee-paying schools. You can take a look at more of the government’s plans in TheJournal.ie’s coverage of the leaked budget documents.
3. #ROAD DEATHS Memorial services will be held across the country today to remember those who have died on the roads. The services form part of the World Day of Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims. Nearly 3,500 people die on the roads around the world each day, according to the UN. One hundred and sixty eight have died in road collisions in Ireland so far this year.
4. #SYRIA A key Syrian opposition group says a major building belonging to the ruling Baath party in Damascus has been hit by at least two rocket-propelled grenades. The attack, which has been reported by the Local Coordination Activist Network, marks the first significant attack on a government building in the capital.
5. #SPAIN Spanish people go to the polls today, expecting to vote in a new government. Bloomberg reports that the opposition leader Mariano Rajoy may win the biggest majority in almost 30 years. He’s pledged to create jobs and implement policy changes. Ireland, Italy, Greece and Portugal have already seen changes in government as a result of the debt crisis.
6. #OBAMA A newspaper in Australia has found a booklet containing classified details of President Barack Obama’s visit to the country in a gutter in Canberra. A reporter from The Age found the booklet near the entrance to the parliament buildings. It contained information about Obama’s security detail and mobile phone numbers of officials.
7.#JAPAN There are no immediate reports of damage after a 5.5 quake in Northern Japan which was felt in Tokyo. No damage has been reported at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Japan was devastated by a 9 magnitude quake in March.
8. #BEHIND THE WHEEL A mother in Delaware in the US was arrested after she allowed her nine-year-old son to drive her car to school, with her in the passenger seat. After he arrived at the school, she got into the driver’s seat and headed for home. Concerned witnesses contacted school officials, who called the police according to the Delaware News Journal.
9. #TYRE-SOME Finally, a massive collected of dumped tyres in South Carolina in the US has been found to be visible from space. Yahoo reports that one person has been charged with dumping 250,000 old tyres, which cover more than 50 acres and can be seen in satellite images.
Image: Rainier Ehrhardt/AP
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If you have no long term plans to sell your house then all an increase in property prices will mean to you is an increase in the property tax you’ll have to pay.
A somewhat valid point, however I think I’d rather pay €400, than lose €80k per year in the value of my property.
It can also mean getting out of negative equity which would allow you to refinance your mortgage as well.
If people get out of negative equity that bought at the height of the boom we’re all f&#ked
Another con job in the making…Thousands of properties in NAMA and drip feeding them out. Supply and demand. We blame Bertie and Brian Cowen for the mess and yet we continue to let another one be created.
Would you prefer if these thousands of properties were released onto the already fragile housing market at the same time, creating an excess supply? House prices would plummet and then you would really see the sh*t hit the fan. I think it’s in everyones interest that the property market recovers and confidence is restored. Nama isn’t ideal but it’s 100% necessary..
ya I do so maybe then I could afford to buy one!
on a different note, why are we all on this island demented with whe thought of owning our own house? serious question.
” I think it’s in everyones interest that the property market recovers” Can you explain this statement please?
How are u going to house urself when ur retired?
Good question Pat
High property prices are in no ones interest and example after example can be found of how they destroy economic growth.
Paying 300k for a house in Dublin means the city is pricing itself out of the investment market for a lot of companies bar a few high growth high earners.
THANKS, DUBLIN. *glares at capital*
Crazy that houses prices in Dublin are rising even if it is obvious why. Try starting a business if you are paying 350k for a mortgage in Dublin. Not going to happen. The problems with everyone trying to live on one side of the island.
If you live in Dublin both parents married and working, 2 kids a mortgage and a car then on a hundred thousand a year you are going to have to budget tightly. That’s a sad reality.
It’s unfortunate because there is no obvious solution.
Agree with @jason. Artificial as unemployment is high and not improving. Consumer sentiment is a huge factor in house prices and Philip never mentioned the fact that the majority have a vested interest in prices rising again. Careful Ireland bubbles burst quicker these days.
Incorrect. As stated in the article, house prices are rising the most in Dublin. It’s in Dublin where most of the jobs are. Internal migration to Dublin is as important a factor as emigration at present. So it is being driven by supply and demand and is not ‘artificial’. Look at this: http://www.broadsheet.ie/2013/08/01/get-up-to-dublin-and-get-a-job/
@Ignoreland that is beside the point. You can’t boost an economy unless there are significant factors such as jobs growth. It shows that company’s are reducing expenses by cutting wages which shows that they are not optimistic about the economy. Like anyone who is Irish I want to see the economy doing well but for that to happen it has to be bolstered by something more than auctioneers pushing prices up so their industry does better.
It is not artificial but it is one sided. Limited supply of homes in Dublin but as all development was focused on it for decades then it is where the jobs are. Crap public transport means commuting is a nightmare for most so you have to live close.
There are enough high wage earners to meet the supply of houses for sale now but leaving very limited options for couples on less than a hundred a year. Crazy situation.
The number of additions to the PRTB register will be the most interesting statistic.
All the red thumbers who said I was wrong when I said 4 months ago that the bottom of the housing market was behind us will now complain that it’s rising too fast. Remember that 8%going up is less than 8% coming down. It’s still 50% less than 07 but people still going to shout about the negative points. Good houses will rise in good location best. Bad apts will stay stagnant in bad locations. New mortgage company’s will enter the market and interest rates will rise. Inflation must and will be controlled better this time.
one of the major tools in controlling inflation is interest rate levels and its one of the things we’ve no control over
Wait I’m confused are we allowed blame enda if something good happens?
House prices rising faster than inflation and wage increases is nothing to be celebrated… where have you been for the last twenty years?
Loser troll Nolan honestly nothing good ever comes from a traitor
Nothing good about high house prices. Less money for the rest of the economy.
According to today’s Indo, the number of mortgages issued in the first six months of this year was down 10% on the same period last year. At the same time the average value of mortgages issued also fell… How can this possibly equate to property market stabilisation and growth…
I think the problem with the CSO figures CD is that there is a very low level of transactions at the moment and averages can be easily skewed by a relatively few high value sales.
The LTV is now lower due to savers waiting for the market to bottom out. Summer is always slow for sales but to be too blunt a soft winter has certainly reduced executor sales and although we don’t control int rates it will be monitored. As for high house prices not good what are you talking about. It’s still half what it was. Keep predicting rain. I promise you will be right eventually.
Ha Ha
Investec!
The parent company of the reckless Subprime lender (of last resort) Start Mortgages.
What a load of Spin!
The REAL fundamentals still don’t stack up.
Douglas Newman And Good the nationwide chain of estate agents conceded that the majority of these sales in south Dublin were to cash buyer, rich farmers buying “a property for their kids for when they go to college in Dublin”.
More like trying to avoid all their money getting wiped out in a Cyprus style cash grab.
Skewed statistics.
Pull the other one.
Spruikers!
Dublin “driving”
“continued”
“growth” of property prices
“House prices “across Ireland” rose by 2.3 per cent over the last year with Dublin achieving growth levels of 8 per cent”???
What a load of rubbish!!!
What a load of spin!!!
From Start Mortgages II.
What other good advice have you got for us today Mr Invetec/Start Mortgages?
How many of your mortgages are in arrears Today Mr Invetec/Start Mortgages?
90 – 95%?
You should have your banking licence revoked Mr Invetec/Start Mortgages!!!!
Predators!!!
http://blogs.myhome.ie/2012/09/19/seven-in-ten-home-loans-in-trouble-at-start-mortgages/
Somebody pulling figures out of there derrière again. Lets get the Celtic tiger to kick off again a good old boom bust boom. Their is a joke in there somewhere…………. Oh yeah the Irish electorate they are the joke if they keep falling for this bullplop.
House prices are rising quiet significantly in South Dublin. Very limited supply and enough people to fight over them. Not much good if you have a joint income of less than 100k but that doesn’t change the price growth.
Its kind of shit that if you earn less then 90/100k you have to move to wicklow or dublin north :(
Coffee. Even in much of the North city 90-10k a year for a family of 4 working etc will mean a very very quiet life.
Dublin is destroying itself by making it unaffordable for most people to live there.
As someone who has been looking to buy for the past 2 months and has been actively bidding in West Dublin and North Kildare I can tell you there has been a serious jump in prices for decent houses.
The supply of good quality 3/4 bed homes in the capital is very low due to no construction for the past 5 years and everyone who has such a house won’t move or put it up for sale for two reasons:
- The paid way over the odds back in the boom for it and would make a loss
- They don’t want to sell now as they want to hold out for more price increases
This lack of supply is sending Dublin prices upwards, fast. I have bid on 3 separate houses and they have all gone for over the asking price. Fortunately I have since sorted something.
Bottom line: We need to start building again at sustainable levels. Good family homes, not knocked together shite apartments that are good for nothing.
If Beer goes up we complain
If Food goes up we complain
If Petrol goes up we complain
but, if Property goes up we all think its great
Great for who?
.
Could it be the ‘dead cat bounce’ finally??
Why is this news??? The CSO property price index does not include cash sales so it can never be used as a true indication of the property market. Has anybody analysed house prices using the property price register? This should contain prices for all transactions and would be truer reflection of the state of the market.
We Irish are slow learners, apparently.
Higher residential property prices are detrimental to society, absorbing as they do, an excessively high proportion of earned income.
Too much of Ireland’s economic resources have been displaced into residential property to the disadvantage of more economically productive purposes.
Ultimately, we would all benefit if the cost of housing was much cheaper. But the Irish obsession with property ownership and speculation with inadequate security of tenure for renters has created an ongoing unhealthy problem in the Irish economy and in Irish society.
Higher property prices suits developers, banks, property professional and the public exchequer.
The younger generations who have been foisted with the cost of the bank bail out and the consequences of the Great Mortgage Scam may not even ultimately benefit from cheaper priced housing. The irony. It’s not exactly inter generational fairness.
So, we may actually seen another speculative boom in property prices. Interesting!
Good, now maybe rents will come down again.
Only when they start building more houses. Demand is there but the developers aren’t getting the credit and the profit is so much less than it once was – Thankfully.
Hopefully the building will start again at a much more sustainable level – with proper planning – and then yes, rents will come down.
On the other hand I could be shooting for the moon saying that.
I think Tommy has a question. :D
Dublin and parts of Cork city, still lots of demand.
Sorry Tommy, what was your question again?
Just the people with money left buying up big houses wait until they start buying smaller houses for a real reflection on property values…. Anyway what does it matter in the greater scheme of things if you are locked to where you bought in 2005/2008 still paying twice what your neighbour is just beacuse they are 5 years younger than you..something needs to give with negative equity…. If this portion of people’s loans was addressed it would free up a lot of money that could be spent on the real economy
It is just dreadful that our Governments have the attitude that housing is a profit centre and policy is centred around this idea. Essentially shelter is a basic human need and policy should reflect this with every decision,
house prices are going down not up how many times have we heard them lies
Further to my recent comment, the banks are actually lending now. Specifically PTSB.
have your say