Source: Yui Mok/Press Association

IT HAS BEEN a big week in property news – with the release of the Daft Rental Report and the Allsop Space auction taking place at the RDS.

New figures on renting around the country showed further increases in prices – as well as news that mortgage repayments are now cheaper than rent in most parts of the country.

There was some suggestion that the way to tackle this problem is denser building projects in the major cities.

The Big Movers

Housing competition 

New information from estate agent Savills has predicted that the Central Bank’s new mortgage rules will lead to landlords and investors buying up properties – making it more difficult for those trying to get onto the property ladder.

The estate agent put this down to a number of small-scale investors trying to get into the market and aiming for the same properties as home buyers.

Speaking about this, Savills’s John McCartney, said:

In time this will attract investors who will compete with everybody else to buy properties. Therefore the new measures will do nothing to soften house price growth by curtailing demand.

Allsops Space auction 

This week the Allsop Space property auction took place in the RDS. In total 183 properties were sold for a total value of €45.7 million.

The auction saw a number of big-ticket purchases. A plot of 1.5 acres of land in Delgany went for €1.2 million. This came with planning permission for 4 x four-bedroom developments.

The auctioneer noted that the event had featured a number of new bidders and that there were “fewer familiar faces in the room”. It was also noted that the Central Bank’s lending rules did not prevent prices from breaking the €220,000 barrier.

The auction also saw the Shandon Hotel in Donegal sell for €810,000.

The Shandon Hotel in Co Donegal Source: Allsop Space

The Daft Rental Report

This week the new figures for renters around Ireland brought more bad news. The Daft Rental Report showed an increase of 9.7% in the last quarter of 2014 when compared with the same period a year previous.

This put the average price of a rental property at €950.

In Dublin the average rent was found to be €1,350 – a hike of 11.5% compared to a year previous. The only silver lining was that this showed a slowing in growth for rental prices.

The figures for the second quarter of 2014 had shown a 16.5% growth compared to the same period in 2013.

It was also notable that there was better value to be had in most of the country for those paying mortgages over those paying rents.

Mortgage rent comparison Source: Daft

Under Construction

• This week TheJournal.ie was speaking to TCD economist and author of the Daft Rent Report Ronan Lyons. He stated that to meet the demand of 10,000 additional families in Dublin a year, more compact, higher density housing needs to be built.

Source: TheJournal.ie via YouTube

• The government this week announced that it may tax vacant properties in a bid to combat the housing squeeze. The Finance Department also said that it was looking at ‘Land Barons’ delaying sales in order to wait for house prices to rise.  
• Around 45,000 householders have had the Household Charge taken from their pensions or wages.
• The Money Advice and Budgeting Service has revealed it has helped 300,000 people who are in debt. Around 50% of the State-run bodies clients have a mortgage. 
• In his interview with TheJournal.ie, Ronan Lyons also explained that rents were close to being back to their 2007 peaks. This is down to chronic under supply, according to Lyons. 

Des Res

Interested in how the other half live? This week Business Insider took a look at the 13 most expensive mansions available to rent in the Hamptons, New York. The area is a renowned playground for America’s wealthy.

Here is a selection of a few of the properties on the list.