Close to €800 million was invested in the Irish property market in the third quarter, bringing total volumes to €3.5 billion in the first nine months of the year.
Charlie Taylor reports this marks the highest volumes recorded in the January to September period and is double the number seen for the first three quarters of 2020. Savills Ireland, which compiled the figures, said it expects to see year-end totals of between €4.75 billion and €5.25 billion. The figures comes as CBRE Ireland says there has been a “very notable increase” in investor activity in the industrial and logistics sector of the market, with more than €442 million invested in industrial investment properties in Ireland during the first nine months of the year.
Sticking with the property market, Charlie also reports on DNG figures showing the cost of buying a second-hand house in Dublin rose by 2.1 per cent in the three months to the end of September, with the average price paid in the capital now standing at €492,531, new figures show. This marks a slowing down in price growth, compared to the first two quarters of the year, when 3 per cent increases were recorded.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe is to meet European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager today to discuss " taxation issues," according to a statement from the Department of Finance. The meeting comes as the OECD corporate tax reform programme enters a vital week. Cliff Taylor has the details.
Dominic Coyle reports small business lobby Isme and Brokers Ireland, which represents financial advisers, have called on the Government to increase financial support for private pensions. The groups have written to Ministers outlining measures that, it says, would remove "pensions discrimination against the self-employed and private sector workers".
In her column this week, Pilita Clark writes money isn't everything in the Great Re-evaluation that is currently going on as many workers consider what they want their life to look like post-Covid. In a meeting with several executives recently, Clark says they outlined more autonomy, more recognition, more flexible hours, better holidays and anything that generally made working life more enjoyable as the elements that were attracting and keeping employees.
Professional services firm EY Ireland has confirmed plans to establish a new legal practice. The decision follows on from similar moves made elsewhere with EY Law currently available to clients in 92 countries. EY said the law practice will initially specialise in digital, tech and commercial, corporate M&A, employment and real estate.
Charlie reports that the Irish arm of human resources and employee benefits consulting giant Mercer paid close to €53 million in dividends to its parent last year after recording a rise in revenues and profits. Newly filed accounts show it almost doubled the dividend awarded to its parent at year-end, having paid out €27.2 million out a year earlier.
The chair of Cider Ireland, Daniel Emerson, writes that the State can aid craft cider brewers replicate the beer boom and that a cut in excise duty and the introduction of minimum unit pricing would help level the playing field in the drinks industry.
A defensive UK treasury fails to convince things will get better, writes Martin Wolf. While Brexit allowed the UK to temporarily transfer anger and disappointment to a nationalist cause, politicians must now consider radical alternatives to managing an unpleasant normality.
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