Quotes of the Week

Week starting 01.12.2008

"Many potential buyers are trying to do the near impossible and predict the bottom of the market but, if a buyer purchases now, I would argue that they will have experienced the majority of the anticipated total price fall." Keith Lowe, Chief Executive, Douglas Newman Good, The Irish Times, 04.12.2008

"Spectacular. Depressing. Encouraging. It is encouraging because I believe we have finally reached the agonising bottom in terms of price. We are also facing the prospect of a lengthy period of very, very low interest rates." Ronan O'Driscoll, Director of New Homes at Savills, The Irish Times, 04.12.2008

"The combination of this rate cut and the recent reductions in the price of residential property, of up to 30%, bodes well for the re-alignment and reactivation of the residential market in the months ahead." Marian Finnegan, Chief Economist, Sherry FitzGerald Group, 04.12.2008

"What next year brings is new territory. If you are unfortunate to be made redundant it is difficult to envision where you can go. There is no development taking place, no land sales and the housing market has slowed down to a standstill." Alan Cooke, IAVI, The Irish Times, 05.12.2008

"The worst period of this recession will be between June 2008 and June 2009. I am cautiously optimistic there will be good omens in terms of global liquidity pre-Easter 2009." Mark FitzGerald, Chief Executive, Sherry FitzGerald, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"I think in early 2010 we should be able to see some light at the end of the tunnel!" Ann Hargaden, Director of Investment, Lisney, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"Property must now pay for itself from day one with returns based on assumptions on rental growth now heavily discounted. It's back to basics." Sean O'Neill, Head of Investments at DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"There is an old property cliché which says that "land values go up like a rocket and fall like a stone" and this seems to have been bourne out in Ireland over recent years." Bill Nowlan, Chartered Surveyor & Town Planner, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"There are builders in negative equity on sites. They borrowed more than they can dream of earning back on sites. Some are paying interest on the sites and some simply are not." Anonymous agent, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"The planning system was very inefficient. If you had paid, say, a million pounds for a site, there was a real temptation to take a short cut if there was resistance." Paddy Kelly, Developer, The Irish Times, 02.12.2008

"The knowledge to solve this problem does not reside in Tullamore, Donegal or Castleknock; it's probably not at the Cabinet table or even in the Dáil. It needs business people with business acumen, people who started with zero and know how to maintain a business." Sean Dunne, Developer, The Irish Times, 01.12.2008