Quotes of the Week 29/02

“At current transaction rates, the available housing supply is closer to 14 months worth of supply. We are now in the middle of the Spring selling season. Newsflow over the coming weeks will have a large bearing on the outlook for prices, and indeed output plans, over the coming quarters.” – Dermot O’Leary, Economist, Goodbody Stockbrokers.

"Prices have bottomed out and people are starting to move." - Wade Wise, Residential Director, Savills HOK.

‘‘The value of commercial property will increasingly be driven by sustainability and climate change issues. The move to create low carbon buildings will accelerate and both occupiers and investors will drive this shift, motivated by corporate social responsibility, brand value, the desire to reduce energy costs and the need to future-proof their properties.” - Mark Woodall, Chief Executive, Climate Change Capital.

“Last September Cushman & Wakefield’s European Cities Monitor found that top executives ranked Dublin 12th out of 33 cities in terms of value for money office accommodation. This was followed two weeks ago by the Lisney Rental Indices which found that office rents had remained stable during 2007. With the global economy slowing and with Ireland’s cost competitiveness now coming into sharper focus, this is clearly good news for corporate occupiers”. – John McCarthy, Head of Research, Lisney.

‘The new policy guidance is clearly focused on proactively addressing the issue of taking in charge at the pre-planning stage. This approach coupled with the extensive powers already available to planning authorities to deal with non compliance will ensure that the legacy of unfinished estates is consigned to the past.’ - Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. John Gormley.

“Germany is now established as a core investment market in Europe, accounting for 22% of turnover in 2007. We are still seeing large amounts of capital seeking opportunities in the market and this demand is keeping investment yields stable. Many investors, including Irish investors who invested more than €1 billion in Germany in 2007, are focussing on investing in German real estate on the back of the rental growth potential in key cities such as Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.” - Peter Schreppel, Head of International Investment, Frankfurt office, CB Richard Ellis.

“In the current environment, investors need to focus on core property fundamentals of property investment, namely good buildings in prime locations let at sensible market rents. This type of investment should benefit from rental growth in the coming years, which will be the primary driver of performance. The market has now changed from a debt-driven market to an equity driven market, so Irish buyers will be competing with cash investors. To counteract this, Irish buyers will have to have their debt in place and move quickly to get the best property investment opportunities in 2008.” - Caroline McCarthy, Head of Overseas Investment, Dublin office, CB Richard Ellis.

‘‘They should have master-planned a mini-town for the area [Sandyford] and, instead, they allowed developers to essentially build whatever they wanted out there. It’s turning into an awful mess. The roads are a mess and there’s too much stuff being built for the Luas to cope with.” – Unnamed property industry source, Sunday Business Post.