Quotes of the Week

Week starting 27.10.2008

"I believe when the recovery comes it will come quickly and will take many by surprise and will be similar to what we experienced in the last four recessions; property values will jump 10% to 15% and will then level out to grow at a far more modest rate for the subsequent years." Marcus Magnier, Head of Residential, Colliers Jackson-Stops, 30.10.2008

"We have seen collateral fall up to as much than 80pc. So the Irish market, to a certain extent, has basically lost contact with any bottom in some areas and some aspects." Peter Straarup, the chief executive of National Irish Bank's parent Danske Bank, Irish Independent, 30.10.2008

"Once things stabilise internationally and confidence returns locally, the market should get back on track, but it will be a much healthier and more structured market than heretofore. Every storm has an ending." Ken MacDonald, Hooke & MacDonald, 29.10.2008

"The economy, people having more employment, income and confidence, a perception that you needed to own your own home, the fact that more people came here to work; we had to deal with rental demand etc, so we had to build a lot of units." Annette Hughes of economic consultants DKM, on the factors that contributed to over development, Irish Independent, 28.10.2008

"There is little surprise in these figures which continue the pattern of recent months. Looking ahead, we expect this pattern to continue for some time as both consumer confidence and the economic outlook for the year ahead remain weak." Niall O’Grady, General Manager Business Strategy, permanent tsb, on the latest house price index, 27.10.2008

"The banks tend to appoint receivers on a Friday and that doesn’t give the developers much time to put together the required independent accounts over the weekend if they want to try for an examinership." Anonymous insolvency expert, Sunday Business Post, 26.10.2008

"Due to the low vacancy rate and the fact that over 80 per cent of the demand for office is focused on the city centre, only marginal falls in rental value may be seen there in the near-term, while there is more of a risk for suburban offices to see significant rental value reductions," James Mulhall, director of office agency at CBRE, Sunday Business Post, 26.10.2008

"The fear is that when one creditor takes a legal action, it will lead to a flood of similar claims by creditors who fear being left out if the developer goes under." Neil Callanan, Sunday Tribune, 26.10.2008