Proof emerged this week that we have overcome any distaste for talk of property booms, or proof of a sort anyway. The primary source of this evidence was a most compelling press release from an estate agent that operates on both sides of the Irish Sea. Apparently, according to the release at least, Irish people living in the southeast of England could “tap into massive financial windfalls by returning to Ireland”. And to be more specific, some of these “London Irish” could make as much as €500,000 on a combination of the UK housing boom, the strength of sterling and a couple of other factors.
The figures, as provided by the estate agent, are quite specific. You bought your average London house when you moved there in 2008, snapping it up for almost £50,000 less than the price you got for the Dublin house you sold at the same time (having owned it outright), and banking the difference.
Since then, the London gaff has added a whopping (our word) 68 per cent to its value which, when combined with the rout in Dublin prices and the climb in sterling that has occurred over the same period, means the average Dublin house is now 61 per cent cheaper than its London equivalent. Still with us? Based on average prices, this could mean that selling up in London and buying in Dublin could lead to a €511,739 “immigration dividend”, according to the agent.
This would be before the payment of taxes due or the deduction of commission, which could, by happy coincidence, make its way to the agent in question, acting as it does in both markets. Gains all round?
Yes, if everybody is lucky, but, on the other hand, perhaps no. What if one of the many unpleasant little complications that surround the housing market as it operates in the real world kick in? What if you buy and can’t sell, or get caught the other way round? What if something unexpected happens to currencies while you’re mid-deal? What if it just doesn’t work out?
Or you could look at it in another way and ask: what if you simply choose not to believe this kind of market-flamming guff because you remember what happened when everybody did last time?
