Quotes of the Week 04/04

“The evidence from quarter one shows that the Dublin market is recovering somewhat, a trend which will begin to spread to the rest of the country in the coming months.” – Marian Finnegan, Chief Economist, Sherry FitzGerald Group.

"We expect house prices to decline by about 6 per cent this year and stay approximately flat in 2009." - Jean-Michel Six, economist, Standard & Poors.

“We expect affordability to improve further for first-time buyers this year on the back of slowing house prices and possible decreases in mortgage interest rates – we expect that during 2008, more than likely in the latter half of the year, the ECB will reduce rates albeit it is difficult to predict by how much.” - Dara Deering, Director of Membership Business, EBS Building Society.

“The monthly increase in residential mortgages in February was well below last year’s level. The monthly increase of just .712 million was the lowest in five years, and brought the average monthly increase in 2008 to date to .768 million. This is similar to the average monthly increase in 2002.” – Central Bank.

“Relative to other European economies, the Irish retail market continues to perform well regardless of wider economic concerns and occupier demand remains robust. Threats of potential oversupply, while very real, have, in our opinion, been overstated in recent months." – Marie Hunt, Director of Research, CBRE.

“My assessment of the [retail property] market in Ireland from 2008 out to 2010 is that we will see many winners and losers. The so-called ‘‘already established regional schemes’’, or those with expansion potential, are the ones that are likely to continue to perform best and will show ongoing rental growth into the future.” – Stephen Murray, European Retail Director, Jones Lang LaSalle.

“On one hand, rents have been driven up by tighter supply of industrial space in Dublin. This follows from the fact that industrial development has increasingly been displaced by higher end-use value development such as residential, retail and offices in locations close to the city. This process has been facilitated by infrastructural improvements which have made surrounding counties such as Meath, Wicklow and Kildare more attractive locations for logistics occupiers.” - Dr. John McCartney, Head of Research, Lisney.

"Prime industrial rents remain stable at around 130 per square metre and we do not anticipate any significant change in the coming months.” – CBRE

“To cope with our growing population, developers should be required to pay more towards the cost of providing schools, public water and sewage facilities, roads and footpaths and public transport infrastructure” – Mr John Gormley, Minister for the Environment

"The new arrangement gives Property Partners a double-edged advantage with the benefit of CJS's commercial consultancy strength, expertise and access to world markets alongside unrivalled representation through 55 branches of Property Partners across Ireland." - Marcus Magnier, Director, Colliers Jackson-Stops.