THIS WEEK SAW Daft.ie published its quarterly rental report.

It did not make for pretty reading for potential tenants, with Ireland’s stock of property being the lowest it has been since 2006.

There was also more news for mortgage holders, with the government taking steps to make repossessions for those in arrears less likely.

The Big Movers

Mortgage arrears  

Earlier this week the government announced plans to give power to the Courts to approve insolvency deals that have vetoed by the banks.

This came as part of a raft of measures from the government to improve the insolvency process that it introduced two years ago. Around Ireland more than 38,000 people are in arrears of two years or more on their mortgages.

Speaking about the measure, Minister for the Environment, Alan Kelly, said that the new measures, “will certainly change relationships between the banks and those who are in debt.”

Minister Frances Fitzgerald, Michael Noonan and Alan Kelly earlier this week Sam Boal / Photocall Sam Boal / Photocall / Photocall

Construction on the up

Things have been looking good in the construction industry for a while now and the most recent figures from the Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index have shown this to be a continuing trend.

The industry has now been growing for 20 straight months and the index figures for April showed the biggest growth in staff numbers since January.

Growth was seen to happen across the sectors of commercial, housing and civil engineering.

Daft.ie rental report 

This week the Daft.ie rental report was published with bad news for tenants. Housing stocks in Ireland are at their lowest for almost a decade.

This has led to a trend in the market where it is now cheaper to buy property rather than rent it. This was consistent across the different regions for one-, two-, and three-bedroom houses.

Daft.ie Daft.ie

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Under Construction

• Not all of the funds that were supposed to be given to Dublin City Council to help tackle the city’s homeless problems have been released. 
• It was revealed this week that Kylemore Abbey, the Benedictine monastery in Galway, will be teaming up with the University of Notre Dame. 

Kylemore Abbey Kylemore Abbey Kylemore Abbey

• Irish Water has this week declined to say exactly how many people have paid their water charges. 
• Existing students at UCD were not happy when they found out they would not have priority for accommodation. 

Des Res

The mansion owned by Al Pacino’s character, Tony Montana, in the film ‘Scarface’, is available for $18 million (€15.8 million), Business Insider reports. The property has seen its price drop by half since coming onto the market over a year. It is actually situated in California, and not Miami.