Quotes of the Week 07/03

"I have heard a lot about this. Basically a lot of developers around the country cannot develop at the moment because they cannot sell the product. A lot of them are under serious financial stress" - Jim Power, economist, Friends First.

“Last weekend over 400 people showed up at the launch of the latest phase of houses at the long running Dalriada development in Knocklyon, Dublin 16, where prices had been dropped by 20 per cent. Not all were buyers, but no less than 45 of the 50 apartments and houses were sold, some to people who had queued on the site overnight to get the first choice” – The Irish Times

“The worst performing country price-wise in 2007 was Ireland, where house prices fell by an estimated 7% – or nearly a tenth in real terms. It had been one of the continent’s price leaders only a short time before. The cutback is having knock-on effects throughout Europe, because Irish buyers used rising housing wealth back home and attractive tax breaks there (via re-mortgaging and pensions) to invest substantially in real estate elsewhere, out of all proportion to the relative size of the country.” – Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors: European housing Review 2008.

"Even with prices on the open market dropping, the vast majority of people would not be able to service a mortgage and still depend on local authorities to supply houses at affordable prices." - Mary Shaughnessy, South Dublin County Council.

“The world markets have been shaky, but if we can get over this year, things should improve. I think the level of enquiries and proposals we are receiving will bear this out. Leases in Ireland are traditionally long, and large projects take a lot of planning, so the future is about the fruition of these.” - Mike Kavanagh, MD, Structure Tone Ireland.

“A number of good investment opportunities may be put to the market over the coming months and this will undoubtedly test the strength of demand. The pace of transactional activity will, however, be dictated by the availability and cost of funding.” – CB Richard Ellis: Bi-monthly research report.

"We used to see quite a number of small syndicates, made up of a group of friends, that would club together and buy land. That market has gone. Really, unless you're an established player, it's extremely hard to get financing from the banks." - Donal Kellegher, director, Savills HOK.

"We have information at our disposal that enables us to forecast trends and make predictions for the short- to medium-term performance … It is remarkable that our 2006 census can tell us how many native Irish speakers live in Roscommon, what type of sewerage facilities are prevalent in Wicklow or what percentage of the population of Leitrim does voluntary work. But no one can find out how many unsold housing units are out there or how many more will be built this year." - Marie Hunt, head of research, CB Richard Ellis.

"The project represents a huge vote of confidence in Cork and the docklands and the inclusion of a conference/events centre with an audience capacity of over 5,000 people is very welcome - it's something the council has pursued and is contributing to its capital cost." – Joe Gavin, Cork city manager.