Investigation: Cash buyers snap up bargain flats first-time buyers cannot get because of defects
Prospective home purchasers are losing out to cash buyers – mostly overseas investors – on apartments with defects, ranging from minor issues to hazardous faults, because banks will not risk lending to buy them.
An investigation by The Irish Times has found that mortgage-approved buyers are unable to buy second-hand apartments that require remediation works – in some cases as simple as replacing out-of-date fire alarms – as banks are unwilling to lend on them due to uncertainty around a Government scheme to fix them.
The Big Read: ‘It’s completely unfair’: How first-time buyers are locked out
News in Ireland
- Hate crime Bill to retain special protections for transgender and non-binary people: The slimmed-down hate crime Bill will retain special protections for transgender and non-binary people, the Department of Justice has said.
- Some Dublin public transport journeys 20% shorter after traffic changes, says Lord Mayor: Public transport journey times have been shortened by over 20 per cent on routes along Dublin city’s quays, the Lord Mayor said on Tuesday.
- Irishwoman seriously injured after dress catches fire at friend’s wedding in Spain: The Department of Foreign Affairs has said it is providing consular assistance to an Irishwoman who was seriously injured after her dress caught fire in a freak accident at a friend’s wedding in Spain.
- New supercomputer means better weather forecasts from Met Éireann: Met Éireann is using a new supercomputer to process its weather forecasts, increasing their accuracy and timeliness.
- Weather forecast: Outbreaks of rain in Munster and south Leinster will move up over Leinster this morning and afternoon and into east Ulster this evening, possibly heavy at times. Connacht and most of Ulster will be dry with bright or sunny spells. Highest temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees. Tonight will see outbreaks of rain in Ulster and the eastern half of Leinster and will be heavy at times, especially near the coast. Connacht and Munster will be mainly dry with some clear spells in the west and southwest. Lowest temperatures of 4 to 9 degrees.
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First Time Buyers
- Raising a deposit, mortgage approval and bidding: buying your first home is like the Hunger Games: Buying your first home is a bit like the Hunger Games. The deposit, mortgage approval, finding a property and then battling other bidders to take the prize uses a lot of headspace.
Culture
- Niamh O’Sullivan: ‘I am obsessed with singing. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else’: Niamh O’Sullivan is happy to be a member of the lower-voiced opera sisterhood rather than a soprano. The Cork mezzo-soprano has good reason to be content.
Opinion
Business
- Health insurance in Ireland is too complicated, watchdog warns: Ireland’s health insurance market has grown too complicated and is overwhelming consumers, working against their best interests and seeing many paying over the odds for cover, the watchdog for the sector has warned.
Sports
- Conor McKenna aiming to become second player to win Sam Maguire and AFL Premiership: Brian Murtagh can still picture Conor McKenna sauntering through the gates of Eglish St Patrick’s home ground on match days with the easy air of a man out for an unhurried ramble.
World
- Hizbullah rocket strike on Tel Aviv in escalation of conflict with Israel: Lebanon’s Hizbullah launched a rocket targeting Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv, which it says was responsible for assassinating its leaders and blowing up pagers and walkie-talkies used by the group, in a new escalation.
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