Quotes of the Week

Week starting 08.09.08.

"The housing market is still in the throes of correction and it may well be 2009 before signs of stability emerge... Yet the monthly fall in July was only 0.2pc and the annual pace of decline also slowed, this time to 9.4pc from 9.7pc. As a result, Bank of Ireland projects an 8pc fall for the full year." Bank of Ireland chief economist Dan McLaughlin, Irish Independent, 12.09.2008

"It might start with the parent saying, 'that's too much, I wouldn't pay that'. Then the surveyor will have a go and advise them to drop a bit more and finally, just as they are about to sign the contract, the solicitor might say, 'tell them you're just about to sign the contract, but you want €20,000 off'. It's heart-breaking. For the vendor that is." Steven Manek, Douglas Newman Good, The Irish Times, 11.09.2008

"For the first time ever in Ireland the majority of homes being purchased by single people are being bought by women. The trend was heading this way before prices started falling but it appears to have accelerated considerably." Suzanne McGuinness of IFG Mortgages, Irish Independent, 11.09.2008

"If we get it wrong at the planning stage we're fighting a losing battle on other fronts. I think planning in some authorities is lacking coherence and consistency at national, regional and local level." John O'Connor, Chairman of An Bord Pleanala, Irish Independent, 10.09.2008

"We're probably going to Government at the worst time in the last 20 years and there's no doubt about that and that's a disadvantage for us." Brendan Kenny, Limerick Regeneration chief executive, The Irish Times, 10.09.08

"It will be a sad day for Dublin if one of its most attractive inner suburbs is destroyed in the fashion proposed here, if this is allowed to go ahead." Former PD leader Des O'Malley on developer Seán Dunne's plans for a 37-storey tower on the site of the former Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels in Ballsbridge, The Irish Times, 10.09.2008.

"The key issues facing first time buyers in the property market are: the lack of ability to obtain an appropriate level of finance and the lack of confidence in the market regarding when property prices will bottom out." Eoin Whelan, Director in Tax at BDO Simpson Xavier, Irish Independent, 09.09.2008.

“However, the other indices painted a somewhat more encouraging picture. Housing activity has to be curtailed to allow the supply overhang to be worked off and starts have, indeed, been minimal in recent months. The housing PMI index has oscillated around 25 for much of this year indicating that activity continues to decline but that the rate of decline has stopped accelerating." Pat McArdle, Chief Economist at Ulster Bank, 08.09.2008.

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are so large and so interwoven in our financial system that a failure of either of them would cause great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe." Hank Paulson, US treasury secretary, The Irish Times, 08.09.2008

"A four-bed period home off the South Circular Road could have cost up to €1.8 million when the market was at its height; now it’s down to €1.2 million or €1.3 million. If you are looking for a home to trade up to, somewhere that you plan to stay for a long time, that has to be seen as good value." Felicity Fox, Sunday Business Post, 07.09.2008.