Salient to Investors:
Dublin, the epicenter of Western Europe’s worst housing-market crash, is showing signs of life for those with cash.
Keith Lowe at Douglas Newman Good said people are going to look back and see a lot of missed opportunities in Ireland if they had the cash.
Goodbody Stockbrokers says cash now accounts for half of all sales as banks balk at taking on more mortgage debt.
Dublin house prices are down 55 percent from their peak in 2007, apartment prices down 63 percent. Outside Dublin, prices are down 46 percent.
Bank of Ireland, which accounts for 40 percent of new mortgage loans, saw a noted pick-up in mortgage demand in September and October.
Owen Callan and Frank Oeland Hansen at Danske Bank said the housing market may have turned around after bottoming in June.
About 10,000 homes in Dublin were completed last year, down from about 93,000 in 2006.
Alan Dukes is skeptical about reports suggesting prices may continue to rise.
Karl Deeter at Irish Mortgage Brokers said banks are now only offering mortgages of 80 percent and making more deductions to disposable income. Deeter said it’s nearly impossible for families with a few children and living off one income to get a mortgage, unless the person who is working is earning more than 100,000 euros.
30 percent of Irish home loans by value, including buy-to-let mortgages, are in arrears or have been modified.
Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-07/irish-homes-drawing-buyers-after-market-crash-mortgages.html