Quotes of the Week

Week starting 15.09.08.

"Consumer confidence is shot for lots of reasons, house prices will fall further and no one in their right mind is going to buy a house in the current environment". Jim Power, Friends First economist, The Irish Times, 19.09.2008

"It has been one hell of a ride since The Irish Times launched Ireland's first property supplement 20 years ago this month. In that time the property industry has changed the face of Ireland and brought enormous wealth to a great many people." Jack Fagan, The Irish Times, 18.09.2008

"It seemed as if everyone, knew the price of their own house. For a nation so famously reticent about money matters, we were suddenly well able to tell all and sundry what our house was worth now and what we paid for it. Not that it was professionally valued or anything but because it was here in black and white in the auction results or in the asking prices." Bernice Harrison on 20 years of The Times Property Supplement, The Irish Times, 18.09.2008

“The market is extremely challenging but we have a fantastic product in a superb location right in the heart of the city – it will clearly take longer to sell than it would a year ago but we’re confident because of the uniqueness of the product we will certainly sell them.” Michael O’Flynn, O'Flynn Construction, on the 17-storey Elysian tower which opened in Cork, The Irish Times, 18.09.2008

It was "completely incongruous" and he warned against allowing "the desired financial return of any developer to be a valid planning consideration." Dermot Desmond, Businessman, on Treasury Holdings' plans to build a 35-storey, 152-metre hotel in the Docklands, Irish Independent, 17.09.2008

"The forthcoming Budget should revert to the way mortgage interest was dealt with 20 years ago in this country, whereby one was allowed full relief on interest paid on principal mortgage at marginal rate... this would force people to buy houses and would have an additional benefit in terms of social stability as opposed to having a renting culture, which is the way matters have drifted." Michael Gilmartin, head of commercial lending at IIB Bank, The Irish Times, 17.09.2008

"Of the €12 billion invested in commercial property by Irish investors last year, €10 billion was invested abroad. The Irish economy could do with a slice of that €10 billion at the moment. At the same time, foreign investors are not investing in commercial property in Ireland." Tom Parlon, Director General of the Construction Industry Federation, Sunday Business Post, 14.09.2008

"The worst that can happen is that it doesn’t sell and then you can simply try again in early 2009." Michael Grehan, Sherry FitzGerald, Sunday Business Post, 14.09.2008