Around the Block:Weeks of relentless doom and gloom and foreboding economic forecasts finally look like lifting now that the property market has reopened after a long Christmas break.
A great many second-hand houses and apartments have had their prices cut by anything up to 20 per cent and some of the new apartment schemes due to be launched in the coming weeks will be priced to tempt first-time buyers. There's talk of one-bed apartments in the Dublin suburbs coming on the market at under €200,000 - something that hasn't happened for quite a few years.
It's becoming clear that this could be the year of the buyer - provided you can get your hands on cash. Kings of the market are going to be those people lucky enough to have sold last year, who are now renting and are sitting on a pile of cash. They are already aware that in most cases you can bargain hard with vendors.
Those under pressure to sell are frequently accepting the lower offers. The only possible exception are some of the investors who seem to be holding out for their price because of strong rents still available in the city. In the new homes market, buyers are demanding more and more from developers. Price cuts, timber floors, carpets, landscaped gardens and other "add-ins" are being successfully negotiated by most new home purchasers.
Many developers are waiting to see if there is any spark of life in the market before committing to big launches, contenting themselves with trying to shift the stock left on their hands since 2007.
Capel's decision before Christmas to slash prices by up to €100,000 paid off for them - and while many developers are reluctant to go down the same road, they will inevitably have to follow that example if they want to clear the large number of completed houses and apartments. Any new launches will be priced according to the new market conditions. For potential buyers this will mean "good value" this year, according to Ronan O'Driscoll from Savills HOK. The first few launches of the year will be "offering houses at genuine good prices", he says.
As for the second-hand market, things were busier in the past week than they were this time last year, says DNG's Keith Lowe, who says that by March, there might even be a shortager of stock in some suburbs, in the €500,000 range.
Meanwhile Sherry FitzGerald's Simon Ensor believes that the market has bottomed out, that prices for second-hand homes are stabilising and that there'll be a lot more activity by February.
Massaging of tiles into spa design wins UK award
The clever massaging of tiles, into an innovative design, in a Scottish spa, has won Beverly Bayes of Irish firm Douglas Wallace Architects a prize for creative tile use.
She was awarded the Strata Tiles prize for the UK's most creative tile application, because of the way she captured the luxurious and tranquil atmosphere at the spa in the Old Course Hotel (right), St Andrews, through the use of mosaic and slate effect tiling, along with rugged stone from a local quarry. "We chose tiles that reflected the relaxing quality of the water," says Bayes.
Size matters for Riverdance duo
You might think 929sq m (10,000sq ft) is enough space to rattle around in but not so it seems for Riverdance duo John McColgan and Moya Doherty who are looking to expand their Howth home. The couple paid €1.27 million for the four-acre site and modest bungalow in 1997.
The replacement house with a pool in the basement and underground parking took several years to build on the spectacular setting overlooking Dublin Bay. They have now submitted a planning application to the council for two single storey extensions of 45.4sq m (454sq ft) to the front and side of the house and 6.5sq m (70sq ft) to the rear.
Smith rises up against plan for Clarence with withering critique
Plans to redevelop the Clarence Hotel in Dublin have prompted conservationist Michael Smith, former chairman of An Taisce and one of the most acerbic appellants around, to pen a withering critique of the scheme as "none-too-humble Georgian-Galactia-Deco ... oversailed by a greedy cybership" - a reference to the elliptical flying saucer roof.
"Some of the applicants were implicated in the 1996 bastardization of the Clarence through the construction of a lumpen over-parapet roof," Smith says in his appeal to An Bord Pleanála. "This should preclude them from arguing that the current building needs to be improved."
Referring to U2's Bono and The Edge, who have joined forces with Paddy McKillen for the latest scheme, he writes: "The common good is not served by allowing the richest people in Ireland to build with the benefit of tax incentives only to demolish when they get bored."
Smith claims that their interest in redeveloping the Clarence "now owes more to a fetish for glamour", saying that they "still have not found what they are looking for ... Unfortunately for its owners, the Clarence Hotel is not a pair of sunglasses or a hat."
Calling on the board to overturn Dublin City Council's decision to grant permission for the €150 million scheme designed by international architects Foster + Partners, he says: "In many ways, I am merely trying to save the applicants from themselves."
The Irish Georgian Society also lodged an appeal, but it was dismissed because they had only paid a fee of €210. The appeal fee had gone up to €220 the previous week.
Other appellants are An Taisce and the owners of an adjoining property, Noel Hughes and Tom Murphy, of 13 Wellington Quay, who claim that they will be overshadowed by the new hotel and it could restrict future development of their property.
Ganly name goes after 160 years
Knight Frank Ganly Walters is a bit of a mouthful - and that's one reason the agency, formed after international estate agency Knight Frank took over local firm Ganly Walters in May 2007, has decided to call its Irish office simply Knight Frank. IAVI chief Roberty Ganly, who is now a partner in Knight Frank with Paul McDowell, must feel a little twinge of regret - it's 161 years since the first Mr Ganly set up an agency in 1847.
Sales campaign for Chicago tower lifts off
Shelbourne Development's Garrett Kelleher has a busy month ahead with the launch of the sales campaign for his ambitious 150-storey Chicago Spire scheme. Proceedings kick off in Chicago on Monday with the grand opening of the sales centre on the 18th floor of NBC Tower.
The international sales push will begin on January 24th in Dublin with a glamorous four-day event planned for Fitzwilliam Square. VIP guests will get the chance to rub shoulders with starchitect Santiago Calatrava and view apartment layouts in a fancy marquee in the elegant surrounds of the Georgian square. International sales agents Savills will then be taking the sales road show on to Mumbai, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town.
Billed as the second tallest building in the world (after the Burj in Dubai) the Chicago Spire will have 1,193 apartments. There has been much talk about the hefty prices - the cheapest apartment is priced at €510,000 ($750,000) and the top penthouse is for sale at €27.2 million ($40 million). Shelbourne say, however, that 400 individual viewing appointments have already been booked for the Chicago sales office.
Sky-high tribunal fees add to the value of property in barrister-rich Dublin 6
The earnings of tribunal barristers - as revealed over Christmas - have been greeted in certain parts of D6 with a weariness that accompanies "I told you so". Simply put, the €1 million a year (plus) in fees earned by leading counsel explain the sky-high prices which ordinary houses in certain streets fetched before and after the boom.
Long-term residents of these redbrick enclaves have been inured to their property prices soaring into the stratosphere, to levels equalled only by earnings of high-flying counsel at various tribunals. The two are connected, because the steep rise in prices can be backdated to two other factors that converged - the increasing traffic density on roads from residential areas of south Dublin favoured by the legal professions and the establishment of the various tribunals of enquiry into "certain matters", etc.
Many of the legal profession, seeing several years of forward employment at top rates at tribunals and unwilling to waste the same amount of years stuck in daily gridlock, did the sensible thing and relocated to the redbrick hinterlands of Dublin 6. From whence they often walked to work in Dublin Castle. Being mainly seated during their days' tenure, the exercise was beneficial to both their bowel movements and bank balances. According to one sage of the area, the proliferation of barristers with ample forward earnings guaranteed by the Government was the single biggest contributor to the boom in D6 prices.
Even with soaring prices, mortgages were not a problem. The longer the tribunals lasted, the heavier became the competition among the legal brethren for a leafy redbrick in D6. Significantly since then, expensive extensions and glass cubes have sprouted in many streets, courtesy of the State's need to "clean up its act". Significantly, the current downturn in prices elsewhere has not been quite so noticeable in D6.
Spat academic as builders bolt abroad
The spat between the two Toms, Boland of the HSE and Parlon of the CIF, is a bit late for those over whom they argue. Boland wants construction interests to combine with government to offer third level training for young construction workers who made a lot of money in the boom but whose education was curtailed as a result. Parlon says Boland is exaggerating and nothing like the numbers quoted will be searching for new careers.
While bickering thus, something else is happening which makes their debates academic. From large contractors in Birmingham, Manchester and London, we hear that young Irish chippies, sparks, brickies and stud board fixers are knocking on their doors looking for work, as well as some Polish and Romanian workers who honed their skills in Ireland.
