Friday, December 19, 2008

Quotes of the Week

Week starting 15.12.2008

"Reflecting an imbalance similar to that observed in Spain, new home completions in Ireland have shrunk to an estimated 42,000 in 2008 from 78,000 in 2007. Looking ahead, we expect completions to plummet to 25,000 in 2009." Standard & Poor's, debt rating agency, The Irish Times, 19.12.2008

"There continues to be a widening rift in Irish banking with some lenders continuing to compete for mortgage business while others continue to sit on the sidelines." Frank Conway, Director of the Irish Mortgage Corporation, Irish Independent, 19.12.2008

"As we have witnessed in America during the 1980s, and as we are beginning to see in Ireland, overdevelopment can have a strongly adverse impact on the finances of developers, investors and lenders - not to mention national economies." Dr John McCartney, economist, former head of research with Lisney, The Irish Times, 18.12.2008

"Major reforms are on the way. We can look forward to change from what can be an exasperating rigmarole - for buyers and sellers taking up to seven weeks in and out of solicitors' offices just to buy an ordinary house or apartment - to possibly little more than five days." Pat Igoe - solicitor, The Irish Times, 18.12.2008

"That approach to housing was developer-driven and greed-based. It was fuelled, not by the housing needs of the people, but by the profit motive of developers and the avarice of banks and other lending institutions." Sinn Fein Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, The Irish Times, 18.12.2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

Quotes of the Week

Week starting 8.12.2008

"Clearly, the fear of job loss is deterring people from making major long-term spending commitments such as house purchase." Austin Hughes, Economist, KBC Bank, Irish Independent, 10.12.2008

"The number of properties going off the market, either through sales or withdrawals, has been higher than the numbers coming onto the market every single month this year." Marian Finnegan, Chief Economist, Sherry FitzGerald, Sunday Business Post, 07.12.2008

"Buyers have disappeared and will only be tempted back when they see value to be had. Overall, this year investment property has probably dropped in value by over 30 per cent and has further to fall." John Moran, incoming managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Ireland, Sunday Business Post, 07.12.2008

"The auction market as a method of sale has declined rapidly since its peak in 2006... This was to be expected because the changed market environment meant that best advice from auctioneers for the bulk of sales, especially this year, was the private treaty method." Paul Murgatroyd, Economist, Douglas Newman Good, Sunday Business Post, 07.12.2008

Friday, December 5, 2008

Quotes of the Week

Week starting 01.12.2008

"Many potential buyers are trying to do the near impossible and predict the bottom of the market but, if a buyer purchases now, I would argue that they will have experienced the majority of the anticipated total price fall." Keith Lowe, Chief Executive, Douglas Newman Good, The Irish Times, 04.12.2008

"Spectacular. Depressing. Encouraging. It is encouraging because I believe we have finally reached the agonising bottom in terms of price. We are also facing the prospect of a lengthy period of very, very low interest rates." Ronan O'Driscoll, Director of New Homes at Savills, The Irish Times, 04.12.2008

"The combination of this rate cut and the recent reductions in the price of residential property, of up to 30%, bodes well for the re-alignment and reactivation of the residential market in the months ahead." Marian Finnegan, Chief Economist, Sherry FitzGerald Group, 04.12.2008

"What next year brings is new territory. If you are unfortunate to be made redundant it is difficult to envision where you can go. There is no development taking place, no land sales and the housing market has slowed down to a standstill." Alan Cooke, IAVI, The Irish Times, 05.12.2008

"The worst period of this recession will be between June 2008 and June 2009. I am cautiously optimistic there will be good omens in terms of global liquidity pre-Easter 2009." Mark FitzGerald, Chief Executive, Sherry FitzGerald, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"I think in early 2010 we should be able to see some light at the end of the tunnel!" Ann Hargaden, Director of Investment, Lisney, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"Property must now pay for itself from day one with returns based on assumptions on rental growth now heavily discounted. It's back to basics." Sean O'Neill, Head of Investments at DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"There is an old property cliché which says that "land values go up like a rocket and fall like a stone" and this seems to have been bourne out in Ireland over recent years." Bill Nowlan, Chartered Surveyor & Town Planner, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"There are builders in negative equity on sites. They borrowed more than they can dream of earning back on sites. Some are paying interest on the sites and some simply are not." Anonymous agent, The Irish Times, 03.12.2008

"The planning system was very inefficient. If you had paid, say, a million pounds for a site, there was a real temptation to take a short cut if there was resistance." Paddy Kelly, Developer, The Irish Times, 02.12.2008

"The knowledge to solve this problem does not reside in Tullamore, Donegal or Castleknock; it's probably not at the Cabinet table or even in the Dáil. It needs business people with business acumen, people who started with zero and know how to maintain a business." Sean Dunne, Developer, The Irish Times, 01.12.2008

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Jones Lang LaSalle launch a new look website



Jones Lang LaSalle has a brand new look to their website - what might be called by the cognoscenti, Web 2.0 in style. Having recently launched their jlltv.ie they are certainly one of the busiest property companies in Ireland in terms of marketing and profile raising. The animation sequence at the start, featuring bird's eye views of famous cityscapes, does not include Dublin - reflecting the fact that this is a localised version of the worldwide .com site.

It certainly looks fresh and up to date, but I'd wonder is it really the kind of style that a commercial property company needs for selling themselves.