THE GOLDFISH MEMORY OF THE IRISH TIMES
Jan 21st, 2011 by Conor McCabe
I broke my self-imposed ban on Irish media yesterday, mainly because of the events in the Dáil, but while I was scanning the Irish Times site I came across this article entitled: What’s a house worth now: does anyone know?
The blurb at the start said this:
With no national house price register available to help homeowners, working out how much your property is really worth can be tricky – if not impossible.
Well, that’s true. But the absence of a national house price register didn’t stop the Irish Times from making statements about the value and price of houses over the years.
It seems that the absence of a national house price register only stops you from working out the falling price of a house, not the rising price.
I mean, take this from 10 June 2004. In an article entitled Worth the Investment?, the paper discussed Castle Court, Kilgobbin Wood, Sandyford, Dublin 18. A typical two-bedroomed apartment cost €305,000.
And what was the Irish Times‘ summation?
Surprisingly, it was not ‘With no national house price register available to help homeowners, working out how much your property is really worth can be tricky – if not impossible.’
No. Its advice was:
This is an area on the up. Investors with a bigger mortgage than the one quoted [€1,017 per month for 25 years] may struggle to cover the mortgage but long term capital appreciation looks good.
According to Daft.ie, a two-bedroomed apartment in Castle Court, Kilgobbin wood, would set you back today the princely sum of €249,000.
Not to worry. How about this Worth the Investment? article from 16 June 2005?
It relates to Riverchapel Wood, Courtown, Co. Wexford. The Irish Times says that for a three-bed semi-detached house on this estate:
For a generously-proportioned three-bedroomed house near the beach and Gorey and within commuting distance of Dublin, €171,950 is a good price for those looking to get a leg up on the property ladder.
It’s a pity it did not say “With no national house price register available to help homeowners, working out how much your property is really worth can be tricky – if not impossible” in 2005, because the price of a three-bed in Riverchapel Wood these days is €149,500.
Oh dear. Well, how about Dundrum?
On 24 August 2006 the Irish Times asked once again, Worth the Investment?, this time on a two-bedroomed, first-floor apartment in Rockfield, Dundrum, selling for €550,000.
No mention of ‘with no national house price register available to help homeowners, working out how much your property is really worth can be tricky – if not impossible.’
Instead, the paper said this:
Given the strength of the area in rental terms, it might suit an investor willing to hang on to it with a view to long term capital appreciation. Otherwise a residential buyer is more likely.
Again, that’s a bit of a pity as the current asking price for a two-bed, first-floor apartment in Rockfield, Dundrum, is €350,000 - a drop of 36 per cent in just over four years.
Irish journalism, really, no shame at all.
Cheers for that Conor.
The media in Ireland continue to live in ‘cloud cuckoo land’ - people probably have more idea of the true value of property there.
I live in London and I am amazed that property is even being valued at the prices mentioned at the lower end of the scale; these prices are totally unrealistic in a country with such a huge debt burden and no way of really servicing it, a huge glut of empty property, rising unemployment, rising taxes and increased emigration. People need to get real; a house is only worth what people are prepared to pay for it. People are asking prices that are seriously delusional: perhaps they should look at the value of property in a successful country like Germany; they’ll be in for a shock.
Realistically, property prices in Ireland should be pitched at the level they were at in the early 80’s. The whole ‘property appreciation scam’ in Ireland is and has been of no benefit to anyone; the only people who have benefitted have been the banks and the estate agents. People end up mortgaging their lives away in order to service their debts, thereby creating a great deal of personal stress and having no quality of life. time for everyone to get real. D