Construction body calls for mortgage rules to be relaxed

Construction Industry Federation calls for increase in FTB loan-to-value threshold The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has called on the Central Bank to relax its rules on mortgage lending to make it more affordable for buyers to secure a home loan. In a submission to the regulator, as part of a review of the macroprudential rules, the CIF has called for … Read More

Reduction by new lender puts pressure on banks to cut variable rates

Pressure has mounted on banks to cut their variable ­mortgage costs after a new ­lender announced a large ­reduction in its interest rates. New lender Pepper is to reduce its rates by up to 0.45pc. The Australian-owned firm began lending here at the start of the year. Its new variable rates are now as low as 3.1pc, one of the … Read More

Over 150 properties to be sold at latest Allsop auction

Over 150 houses, apartments and commercial properties will go under the hammer at the next Allsop auction on Thursday 30th June at the RDS Concert Hall, commencing at 9am. The total value reserved for properties is almost €30m. For the first time Allsop are including a section for Allsop Private which will take place mid-morning. At the launch of the … Read More

First-time buyers to benefit from ‘generous’ new mortgage grant

First-time buyers will get financial help from the Government in a new scheme to be announced in the Budget. Homebuyers of new houses will benefit from a tax refund based scheme. The measure is aimed at helping buyers currently struggling to get on the ladder due to Central Bank lending restrictions. The new first-time buyers grant will be “very generous”, … Read More

The average asking price for a house in Dublin city is now €314,311

In the news that will surprise absolutely nobody who is house-hunting, house prices continue to rise. Both the Daft.ie and MyHome.ie reports show that the divide between Dublin and the rest of Ireland persists, but that the prices are only going one way. In the capital, prices are up 1.1% in the last year, compared to a rise of 10.2% on … Read More

Population increases by 3.7% since 2011, preliminary Census results show

Preliminary results from the 2016 Census show that the population has increased by 169,724 to 4,757,976 over the past five years, an increase of 3.7%. The highest rate of increase was in Fingal in Dublin, which grew by 8%, while the biggest fall in population was in Donegal, where it declined by 1.5%. Donegal was one of just three counties … Read More

IDA Ireland launches ‘Invest in Cork’ – a new marketing initiative to promote Cork city and region

Cork – October 5th 2015. IDA Ireland has launched ‘Invest in Cork’, the eight phase of its digital marketing initiative for attracting inward investment by highlighting the specific attributes of individual regional urban centres. ‘Invest in Cork ’ is an interactive experience designed for use on tablet, smartphone and PC. Information on location, education, lifestyle and existing IDA client companies … Read More

Freshly Chopped reports sharp rise in profits and revenue

Healthy fast food chain ‘on track’ to have more than 20 outlets open by end of 2016 Freshly Chopped, the rapidly-expanding Dublin-based food retailer, reported a sharp rise in profits last year. Newly-filed abridged accounts for the healthy fast food firm show accumulated profits rose from just €19,507in 2014 to €232,713 in 2015. The increase in profits came despite a … Read More

Austrian minister says UK will not leave EU

Britain will not quit the European Union despite voting to do so in a 23 June referendum, Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling has said in an interview. “In five years there will still be 28 member states,” Mr Schelling told German business daily Handelsblatt. European leaders were discussing “all possibilities”, from Britain remaining in the EU to sealing “a … Read More