Clarke Auctioneers

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Property Monkey is confused by mixed messages

From the Irish Independent: "THE Broadcasting Complaints Commission yesterday rejected a complaint of bias against an RTE programme about the property market.

'Future Shock: Property Crash', broadcast on RTE1 last April, looked at the possibility of property prices in Ireland falling in the future.

The Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute made a formal complaint to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, claiming that the programme had not been impartial and had a detrimental affect on the property market".

Builders are experiencing widespread layoffs from sites, this was the first sign mentioned in the programme wasn't it? And the BCC are affirming that it wasn't completely made up nonsense! Are the skies darkening...

Chin up, room for optimism

According to today's Department of the Environment Q1 2007's Housing Statistics Bulletin: "The average price of a new house nationally was €320,969 in the first quarter 2007, which was 9% higher than the average price in the same quarter in 2006. The average price of a second hand house nationally was €379,874 in the first quarter 2007, which was 9% higher than the average price in the same quarter in 2006". This seems to buck the trend of recent reports from various institutions & agencies which have widely reported a stagnant housing market at best with many areas experiencing a fall in prices. The methodology of these house prices is based on loans approved by lending agencies so whether it is 100% accurate, especially in the face of overwheming evidence suggesting the contrary, is up for debate. There is also the fact that prices were still rising in Q2 2006 so this may also explain favourable results for Q1 2007 when compared with the same period last year. Anyway it's nice to see a report challenging the doomsayers and giving people some room for optimism.