Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

shovel ready

This week’s vital property news: The return of bedsits and a stand off in Killiney

Everything you need to know in one quick guided tour.

house for sale Mark Stedman / Photocall Mark Stedman / Photocall / Photocall

THIS WEEK HAS seen huge focus on one extremely high-profile repossession.

Solicitor Brian O’Donnell’s stand off in his Killiney mansion has been the attention of much media scrutiny.

New figures for construction also showed that things surged in the early part of last year, before plateauing towards Christmas.

The Big Movers

Construction down to a trickle

Last year saw a much welcomed turn around in the construction industry. However, this growth was shown to slow towards the end of the year. 

This is according to the National Construction Housing Index carried out by consultancy firm Link2Plans. The index is based on planning and project information from every council in the country.

Overall, project commencements were up by 30%. However, things fell considerably in the second half of 2014, with the rate of growth half that of what it had been in the year before.

Rent control?

A group representing landlords this week has said the introduction of rent control is not the answer to the housing crisis.

The Irish Property Owners’ Association (IPOA) has said that what needs to be done instead is the reintroduction of bedsits – which would create extra capacity.

shutterstock_206193211 Reintroducing bedsits has been proposed as a way to tackle the housing crisis Shutterstock / photobank.ch Shutterstock / photobank.ch / photobank.ch

This followed announcements by the Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly that he was planning to tackling the problem of excessively high rents.

According to a recent report, 71% of landlords have insufficient incomes to pay their mortgage on their rental property and more than 38,000 buy-to-lets are in arrears with the bank.

Killiney 

Solicitor Brian O’Donnell spent much of this week refusing to leave his familiy’s Gorse Hill mansion in Killiney.

On Tuesday the High Court refused an attempt by the O’Donnell family to have receivers stopped from repossesing their home. The family have been assisted in their cause by members of the New Land League group.

The property was once valued at €30 million and has more than 9,000 sq. ft. of floor space.

Gorse Hill The Gorse Hill property in on Vico Road in Killiney Mark Stedman / Photocall Mark Stedman / Photocall / Photocall

Under Construction

  • A Japanese hotel chain which is staffed almost exclusively by women has bought Charlie Haughey’s old Kinsealy estate. 
  • IKEA has created a range of furniture that comes with a built in wireless charging spot for your phone. Pretty clever.   

wireless charging ikea IKEA IKEA

Des Res

According to Business Insider, the Italian property market is inundated with historical properties, as owners no longer wish to pay for taxes and up keep. The upshot of this is that this giant castle of more than 150,000 sq. ft. is now on the market for €29 million.

The 12th-century property comes with 115 bedrooms, a vineyard and olive grove.

This week’s vital property news: The return of bedsits and a stand off in Killiney
1 / 6
  • Italian Castle

    Source: Southby's International Realty via Business Insider
  • Italian Castle

  • Italian Castle

  • Italian Castle

  • Italian Castle

  • Italian Castle

Finally…

This week the Guardian’s architecture blog focused the wealth divide being created in Beirut, the capital city of the Lebanon, by the creation of new shopping districts.

Much development in the city took place after the end of the civil war in 1990 and this has brought widespread gentrification of the city centre.

Read: Lack of office space a real headache for companies looking to set up shop

Also: Houses ‘crumbling around families’ because of defective bricks