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Department of Finance officials wavered last month over whether to recommend lifting a €500,000 cap at Bank of Ireland (BoI), just weeks before they finalised a key report that led to the scrapping of the restriction. That is according to documents released to The Irish Times this week, under freedom of information laws, relating to the drafting of a report stemming a year-long review of Irish retail banking by the department. Joe Brennan has the details.
A sharp rise in the level of “uncommenced” planning permissions for apartments, particularly in Dublin, has been linked to speculative activity and land hoarding in the State’s housing market. A report by the Department of Public Expenditure on planning permissions and housing supply highlights “a growing gap” between the number of apartment permissions and completions. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports.
It’s that time of year again: the season of surveillance, writes Karlin Lillington. As you consider the tech gifts you might give this year, you’re making your list and checking it twice, while the tech corporates prepare to find out if you (or your gift recipients) are naughty or nice. And then, monetise that useful information.
2022: It was a year of soaring inflation, bumper corporation tax and the cost of living crisis. In the first of two episodes of The Inside Business podcast looking back on the biggest business stories of the year, Ciarán Hancock is joined by Irish Times journalists Cliff Taylor and Joe Brennan. The panel discuss the knock on effect of rising interest rates, the 12 billion surplus in November and what the new year may have in store for the economy.
Most of the apartment building in Dublin is being facilitated through forward-purchase deals with investment funds. Investors typically pay a premium to buy in bulk as it is easier and cheaper to manage multiple units in one location, argues Cantillon. If institutional buyers pay a higher price for property, the higher price gets capitalised into land values. The interplay between land values and property prices is a key dynamic here. If sales prices increase, the value of land – comparable land – goes up by a multiple of the increase.
Our resident sage also finds that documents released to The Irish Times this week show there was a lot of hand-wringing among officials before they landed on the proposal that the €500,000 executive pay cap be removed at Bank of Ireland – with good reason, as they knew Opposition politicians wouldn’t waste time decrying “fat cat bankers” as households grapple with a cost-of-living crisis.
