House prices in rest of Ireland rise at fastest rate in the last seven years
Latest Property Price Index suggests recovery in property is no longer confined to capital.
House prices outside Dublin are now rising at their fastest rate for seven years, suggesting recovery in the market is no longer confined to the capital.
The latest official figures show residential property prices outside of Dublin rose by 4.9% in 12 months to July, up from a rate of 3% in June and 1.8% in May.
This is the highest rate of house price inflation recorded outside the capital since 2007.
Despite the acceleration, prices outside Dublin are still on average 43% below their 2007 pre-crash peak.
The Residential Property Price Index, compiled by the Central Statistic Office (CSO), suggests residential prices nationally rose by 2% , and were 13.4% higher on an annual basis.
Dublin accounted for the main bulk of the increases with prices in the capital 23.2% higher than a year ago. However, the 2.7% monthly rise in Dublin prices was slowest rate of increase in three months.
Dublin house prices rose by 2.5% in July and were 23.1% higher compared with a year earlier, while apartment prices in the capital were 26.3% higher on an annual basis.
However, the CSO cautioned that its data for apartments were based on low volume of trades and were subject to a high degree of volatility.
Despite the recovery in values witnessed over the past two years, house prices in Dublin remain on average 41.2% lower than their 2007 peak, while apartments are still 48.4% lower than their boom-time high.
Davy analyst David McNamara said property price inflation was still being driven by cash buyers rather than mortgage lending, as evidenced by the fact that the former accounted for 50% of all transactions.
“With little new supply coming on stream, prices have trended upwards, and this could persist until construction ramps up to meet demand,” he added.
Property Industry Ireland, the group which represents businesses in the property and construction sectors, said the latest set of numbers further highlighted the serious supply problems in the market.
Director Peter Stafford said: “The figures show the real impact of a lack of new supply into the housing market. With no new major housing schemes in urban areas reaching the market, and interest amongst buyers improving, it is not surprising that prices continue to rise so fast, especially in Dublin.”
The Government has pledged to announce measures aimed at boosting supply, particularly in Dublin where pressure on prices is at its strongest.
In addition, the National Asset Management Agency said it plans to invest €1.5 billion to develop housing in Dublin.
Standoff between evicted OAP couple and security personnel in their own home
‘We were turfed out of that house’ Evicted OAP couple speak outside court in their pyjamas.
The elderly couple evicted from their home in Dublin this morning are being refused access to their home by security personnel inside the house.
The married couple, Martin and Violet Coyne had received permission to remove their possessions from the home in Carpenterstown, west Dublin where they have lived for 15 years as tenants.
However receivers have taken ownership of the house and the couple were removed this morning.
They returned to the house around 7pm this evening but have so far not been granted access to the house by the security personnel inside the house, working on behalf of the receiver.
A large crowd carrying banners and placards in support of the couple has now gathered outside the house.
Pensioners Martin and Violet Coyne left court in tears today after their contempt of court proceedings were adjourned until October.
Earlier, bailiffs acting on an eviction order evicted the pensioners from their rented home in Carpenterstown, Dublin early this morning as they were preparing to appear in court.
Fiachra Daly ‘just tried to dull the pain of a €20k mortgage pressure’
An inquest reveals.
“He was a fantastic partner and dad and that is how we will remember him. Nothing can bring him back. Nothing can replace him.”
These were the words of Priory Hall widow Stephanie Meehan following the inquest of her partner Fiachra Daly who took his own life last year while under mounting pressure from banks over their mortgage.
Speaking after yesterday’s inquest into Fiachra’s death, Stephanie said she is still coming to terms with his loss and will always remember him as a loving partner and dad to their two children Oisin (9) and Cerys (3).
During the hearing Stephanie and Fiachra’s families learned that there were significant amounts of alcohol and contaminated cocaine in the 38 year-old’s system when he took his own life in July last year.
The findings shocked them, but today Stephanie said she did not want to see his good name tarnished by the facts that emerged.
“Fiachra’s track record as a partner and a father is impeccable and we can only assume that his use of drugs and alcohol on the night he died was in an effort to dull the pain of what he was about to do,” Stephanie told the Herald.
She had known that Fiachra had some drinks earlier in the day, and had a glass of wine with her after she had returned home from a barbecue with their children. However, Stephanie said she had not known he had cocaine.
“We are shocked to hear these findings about Fiachra and do not want his legacy as a person to be affected by this,” she explained.
“He was a fantastic partner and dad and that is how we will remember him. Nothing can bring him back. Nothing can replace him,” she added.
Despite all her experience with the seemingly endless hell of the Priory Hall debacle, and having tried to come to terms with the sudden death of Fiachra, Stephanie’s thoughts following the inquest were with anyone who might be thinking of ending their own lives.
“We would urge anybody who is thinking of doing what Fiachra did not to go down that road but turn to their family and talk, to seek help,” she said.
“We have found the services of Pieta House to be incredible, and for anybody thinking of taking their own life they need to know there is professional help out there they can get,” Stephanie added.
FIACHRA DALY DIED LAST JULY. HIS BODY WAS FOUND BY HIS PARTNER STEPHANIE.
“It happened completely out of the blue. Everybody was very surprised. He was a very happy, kind person.
“Everyone was equally shocked and still, to this day, are shocked,” she said at yesterday’s inquest.
On the Sunday evening Fiachra was anxious that she should fill out her part of a financial statement for an extension of their mortgage moratorium.
They had to do this “constantly”, she said, but he “seemed more stressed about it than usual”.
“We had gotten a letter earlier on in the week from the bank stating that we were €20,000 in arrears and they couldn’t extend our moratorium unless we completed the statement of means. It annoyed Fiachra that we had a mortgage for a house we couldn’t live in,” she said.
Fiachra’s death was ultimately the tipping point for action on the Priory Hall apartments built in Donaghmede by former IRA hunger striker Tom McFeely.
Having been evacuated from their fire-trap homes in December 2011, the residents were caught in an endless spiral of red tape and court cases about the apartment block.
Following Fiachra’s death, Stephanie wrote to Taoiseach Enda Kenny pleading for help.
She outlined her ordeal and how Fiachra had been a long-time campaigner for a solution to the ongoing Priory Hall problems that affected nearly 300 residents who were evacuated from their homes in 2011.
The on-going battle was then quickly resolved, with Dublin City Council agreeing to take control of the complex and refurbish it. Residents were then allowed to have their mortgages written off.
Last winter 2013/14 the stormiest in 143 years for Ireland
WE IN IRELAND ALONG WITH THE UK WEATHERED THE STORMIEST WINTER IN 143 YEARS LAST YEAR, SCIENTISTS HAVE NOW CONFIRMED.
Climatologists at NUI Maynooth have identified the winter of 2013/2014 as the stormiest in 143 years for Ireland and the UK.
The research by Dr Tom Matthews, Dr Conor Murphy and Shaun Harrigan from NUI Maynooth’s Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units (ICARUS), together with Prof. Rob Wilby of Loughborough University (UK), used long-running atmospheric datasets to characterise winter storminess over the North Atlantic for the last 66 years and as far back as winter 1871-1872 for Ireland and the UK.
“The results indicated that last winter was the stormiest in the 66 year record across the North Atlantic due to the unprecedented strength and number of cyclones over the mid- and high-latitude North Atlantic respectively,” a staement for the college said today.
Frequency and intensity
For Ireland and the UK, although previous winters experienced more storms (e.g. 1914-1915, the first winter of World War 1), and storms that were, on average, more intense during the late 1980s to early 1990s, no year in the 143 year record had a winter as severe as 2013-2014 when both the frequency and intensity of storms are combined.
Dr Tom Matthews said: “Inspired by the severe weather we experienced last winter we decided to assess the extent to which these conditions were unusual in the long-term context.
“This is an important task as such destructive weather events are of tremendous societal significance as we saw last winter in both Ireland and the UK.
“Cyclones typically form over the North Atlantic Ocean and travel east toward Ireland and the UK. The number and intensity of cyclones experienced each year has a significant influence on the amount of rainfall and extreme wind speeds.”
The research is published in the September 2014 issue (Volume 4) of Nature Climate Change Journal.
Fota Wildlife saves three frog species from extinction
A frog called the mountain chicken (because it’s hunted as food), a type of salamander and the Morelet’s leaf frog are some of the species to avoid extinction thanks to Fota Wildlife Park in Cork.
The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) has published a list of the top 10 reptiles and amphibians to benefit from the aid of its members in Ireland and the UK.
Three residents of Fota Wildlife Park’s Tropical House – the mountain chicken, axolotl and the Morelet’s leaf frog – have all made it on to the list.
The mountain chicken, the world’s biggest frog, got its name as it is commonly hunted for food.
The axolotl is a critically endangered amphibian which retains its tadpole like appearance as an adult and has an extraordinary ability to regenerate limbs.
Meanwhile, the Morelet’s leaf frog has the ability to parachute between trees.
The Komodo dragon, with less than 1,000 left in the wild, also makes the list and one of the most sought after reptiles in the illegal pet trade, the ploughshare tortoise, also makes the list as does a UK species, the sand lizard.
Dr Andrew Marshall, of BIAZA’s field programmes committee, said: “Zoos are part of a global conservation community.
“Last year, BIAZA published a report of the top 10 mammals most reliant on zoos, which highlighted the work being done by zoos to help safeguard their future.
“This year, we have focused on 10 prevailing examples of reptiles and amphibians that zoos are working to save from extinction. The list includes some fantastic species, many of which are facing a dramatic decline and are in a desperate situation in the wild.
TV presenter and naturalist Nick Baker, who is backing this year’s top 10 campaign to raise awareness of the species, said: “Zoos and aquariums have a very important role in this whole thing – at the scariest level they are the Ark.
“They are where the insurance populations of these animals can be looked after and understood and studied.”
He added: “As much as BIAZA are very important in holding the ark population, they are also very important in being that interface between these animals and the public.”
He said zoos helped people appreciate species which might not have an instant appeal to the masses, as they are not furry, and were using money from visitors and applying it “directly to try and give these creatures a happy ending”.
BIAZA’S TOP 10 REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS MOST RELIANT ON ZOOS ARE:
:: Axolotl – a critically endangered amphibian that looks like a tadpole even as an adult and can regenerate limbs;
:: Golden mantella – a bright yellow frog that attracts a mate by clicking, not croaking, and will try to eat anything it can fit in its mouth;
:: Komodo dragon – the world’s largest living lizard with males growing up to 3 metres and females able to reproduce on their own if necessary;
:: Lemur leaf frog – a small frog which, at 3-4cm could fit on the end of a finger, has seen its range and population fall 80% in recent years;
:: Morelet’s leaf frog – a striking lime-green frog with a pink or orange underbelly and wide webbing between their toes which lets them parachute between trees;
:: Mountain chicken – one of the largest frogs in the world, which gets its name as it is commonly hunted for food;
:: Orange-tailed skink – a beautifully coloured and highly endangered skink which would be extinct without the help of zoos;
:: Ploughshare tortoise – one of the most sought after reptiles in the illegal pet trade and which can live up to 100 years;
:: Round Island boa – one of the few snakes that can change its colour;
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