Friday, May 30, 2008

Quotes of the Week 30/05

Hitting the very bottom of the curve is near impossible but we know the market has taken a hit. No one knows how far that hit is going to go but it won't last forever.” – Gary McCausland, property developer.

The housing market remains critical to prospects in Ireland on an 18-month view. At least we are confident that we are nearer the end than the beginning. Residential investment as a percentage of the economy will be down to early 1990s levels by yearend 2008, and house prices have corrected some distance. But we do not see a bottom in 2008. It is vital that new housing sales overtake house completions. That inflection point will probably be reached some time in H1 2009.” – Davy Stockbrokers.

House prices may fall 10.7% on average (12 months over 12 months) in 2008 followed by a further decline of 7.2% in 2009.” – Davy Stockbrokers

‘‘The adversely changed circumstances of the current private housing market to that of 2005/ 2006, when the bids were submitted, along with the significant additional costs of increased apartment sizes and new energy regulations, have rendered the whole concept of using the sale of private housing units to fund social and affordable housing and community services along with a balancing site purchase figure, unsustainable in the current market, despite the best efforts of everybody involved.” - Bernard McNamara.

"It wasn't just about rebuilding a few flats, it was about social regeneration" - Peter Ward, Chairman, O'Devaney Gardens Regeneration Board.

"About 10 days ago I was asked to go and see Ciaran McNamara in Dublin City Council, and he said to me 'we don't believe these PPPs are progressing, we've spent €27m and got nothing for it and we want to go a different route" - Bernard McNamara.

We're going to have a third- or fourth-level campus, and we commissioned a design for a general hospital, so if people came to us they'd see how much land it would take up. This is not a dormitory town, it's an economic region." - David O'Connor, Fingal county manager.


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