Cowen to play stamp duty cardBrian Cowen has played the stamp duty card very close to his chest in recent weeks, but today he is likely to announce that the tax threshold for first-time buyers will be raised to €500,000 - €50,000 more than Fine Gael's offer.

But there's unlikely to be much relief for buyers at the upper end of the second-hand market where properties have been sticking as buyers await the outcome of the election. The minister might well come out with a firm date by which new measures would be implemented, with backdating also a possibility. This again would be a step ahead of Fine Gael who have been vague on the timing. Increased mortgage interest relief may also be on the cards, in order to relieve the pain of those who- may have bought houses in the last year or so and who have been hit with the double whammy of rising interest rates and falling prices.

Buyers to call shots

With so many new developments on the market, and even more to come over the next few months, cash buyers will be a good position to strike a deal. Just as in the past prices were fluid - they inevitably went up after the first few units sold fast - but from now on the trend will be down rather than up. Any agent worth his or her salt will take a realistic view of the slowdown in sales and nab any obvious punter with money to spend. For buyers it could be the window of opportunity they are waiting for. Most builders are beginning to have a backlog of completed units and, as good businessmen, they are unlikely to haggle too hard. Indeed, some are thinking about putting together packages for hardy investors who are ready to take a punt if the deal is right - especially now when the rental market is doing well. The only doubt on the horizon is whether the construction industry will continue to absorb so many Eastern European workers who have proved such excellent tenants.

Babysitting builders

First there was the promise to pay your mortgage at Tyrrelstown in north Dublin; now a midlands builder has raised the bar by offering to take care of your kids too. Buyers at a new housing development in Castlepollard, Co Westmeath have a menu of lifestyle packages to choose from - two years free childcare at an on-site crèche, a new Fiat Punto Grande or a turnkey furniture package. And if that's not enough, three years' free membership at both Ballinlough Castle Golf Club and the Mullingar Park Hotel Leisure Complex come with each unit. Built by Paul Maye's Mayeform Ltd, prices at King's Court start at €198,950 for two-bed apartments, townhouses start at €235,000 and three-bed semis at €295,000. Developers are tripping over themselves to tempt contract-shy buyers. Lifestyle packages are set to become the norm. Watch out for all sorts of sweeteners - party-ready gardens complete with hot tubs and BBQs, a share in a holiday home to lure families and a free Caribbean cruise to attract the trade down market. If packages are not on offer, don't be shy to ask.

Island of Ireland - in Dubai

Ireland's island in Dubai should have a luxury hotel with a Charlie Haughey Great Gatsby suite (with unlimited wine, women and song - on the house); a Ben Dunne suite (in the basement, with no phone); an Irish bar with Bertie Ahern as the landlord with a snug where Oscar Wilde would tell jokes; and a microbrewery, Jacob's factory and an old Mrs Brennan's bakery. The Irish public would make Colin Farrell chief party organiser, and want a statue of a begrudger at a bar with a pint that's half empty rather than half full. These suggestions were posted on a website looking for ideas on how we should be represented in the world. Not the real world, of course: this is Dubai-World, the 300 man-made islands shaped as a map of the world 4kms off the Dubai coast. The consortium of Irish developers (lead by overseas property company Larionovo) who bought Ireland's bit of the world for €20 million - and who'll unveil their plans for it today - set up the site to which there was a huge response. It'll be a rude and occasionally reverential world: sporting greats will get their halls of fame - but it was also suggested that Bono's arse should be hoisted into the air to light up the island.