Friday, December 19, 2008

Quotes of the Week

Week starting 15.12.2008

"Reflecting an imbalance similar to that observed in Spain, new home completions in Ireland have shrunk to an estimated 42,000 in 2008 from 78,000 in 2007. Looking ahead, we expect completions to plummet to 25,000 in 2009." Standard & Poor's, debt rating agency, The Irish Times, 19.12.2008

"There continues to be a widening rift in Irish banking with some lenders continuing to compete for mortgage business while others continue to sit on the sidelines." Frank Conway, Director of the Irish Mortgage Corporation, Irish Independent, 19.12.2008

"As we have witnessed in America during the 1980s, and as we are beginning to see in Ireland, overdevelopment can have a strongly adverse impact on the finances of developers, investors and lenders - not to mention national economies." Dr John McCartney, economist, former head of research with Lisney, The Irish Times, 18.12.2008

"Major reforms are on the way. We can look forward to change from what can be an exasperating rigmarole - for buyers and sellers taking up to seven weeks in and out of solicitors' offices just to buy an ordinary house or apartment - to possibly little more than five days." Pat Igoe - solicitor, The Irish Times, 18.12.2008

"That approach to housing was developer-driven and greed-based. It was fuelled, not by the housing needs of the people, but by the profit motive of developers and the avarice of banks and other lending institutions." Sinn Fein Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, The Irish Times, 18.12.2008

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