Developers are still sitting pretty according to reports in a couple of the papers. “Builders get Nama pay deal” in The Sunday Times reports that the top 10 developers – who owe billions to the state and whose assets have transferred to Nama – will be allowed to pay themselves up to €200,000 salary a year and hold on to their homes while their property assets are worked out over the next five to 10 years.
It’s over. The Irish love affair with property ownership is coming to an end and in future people will rent rather than buy, according to a new book by Gerard O’Neill, the chairman of market research company, Amarach.
The Revenue is targeting Irish owners of foreign investment properties who are now disposing of them to bolster their depleted cash reserves, The Sunday Business Post states.
The retrospective abolition of upward-only rent contracts still remains a roadblock to growth in the retail sector, according to Retail Excellent Ireland (REI).
Home prices on the country’s two more expensive streets will fall more than anywhere else in Ireland and possibly the world, according to a report in the Sunday Tribune. After setting global records during the boom years, they will tumble more than 70% from their 2006 peak, analysts predict.
The commercial rent war has escalated with tenants in the Liffey Valley shopping centre in west Dublin being sued by their landlord. The retailers are in revolt over an attempt by the centre’s owners to raise rents by more than 10 per cent.
The €22bn of taxpayers’ money flushed down the Anglo Irish Bank toilet may not be the end of the loo roll required for the clean-up, the bank’s chief executive Mike Aynsley has admitted.
Dublin fell four places in the most recent international survey of shop rents compiled by CB Richard Ellis, the global research consultancy.
People in Ireland may have to pay more for mortgages and personal loans because of the international debt crisis, according to credit rating agency Moody’s.
Fears over Ireland’s national debt saw the cost of borrowing on international markets soar last week, culminating in a virtual freeze on buying and selling of Irish bonds on Friday, The Sunday Tribune reports. For the first time in recent history, Ireland is paying more to service its debts than Poland.
Yields on 10-year government bonds rose to 6% last week and the yield on two-year bonds rose by 50% to more than 4.5%.
“The government needs to borrow about €55bn more from the markets over the next 30 months and paying a higher interest rate threatens to push up debt service costs by many hundreds of millions of euro, potentially leading to another painful round of spending cuts and tax rises,” according to the newspaper.
Separately, the Sunday Business Post has more potentially miserable news for many of the 300,000 mortgage holders who now find themselves in negative equity. Banks are preparing to go after the parents of defaulting borrowers who have guaranteed their children’s loans.
Parental guarantees became prevalent during the Tiger years as young people were encouraged to scramble onto the bottom rungs of the housing ladder at any price. Some parents limited themselves to a fixed amount but others co-signed the mortgage documents, taking on full liability as a result.
The newspaper quoted an AIB spokeswoman who said the bank still accepted parental guarantees “where appropriate” but “we reserve the right to pursue these guarantees in situations of default”.
A NAMA source has told The Sunday Tribune that the asset management agency could close down hotels under its watch if they aren’t making enough money.
NAMA is taking over €800 million in loans secured against Irish hotels and the NAMA source told the Tribune that “it may be better for some hotels to shut rather than draining developers’ resources.”
AIB is facing virtual nationalisation because of new rules on bank reserves proposed by The Financial Regulator, The Sunday Times reports. Such an action would mean taxpayers would be forced to invest billions more than they have already to keep the bank afloat.
Meanwhile, Nama officially becomes a reality today when the first tranche of loans are transferred from Irish Nationwide. All of the Sunday’s speculate the original haircut of 35% will now look more like a skinhead, with discounts of up to 60% being paid by the state on these loans.
The rest of the week will likely be filled with banking news as the full extent of the Nama bailout strategy becomes fully apparent. Guestimates range anywhere between €25 billion and €40 billion depending which commentator you choose to believe – whatever the final bill, taxpayers can expect to be footing it for generations to come.
Billionaire tax exile Dermot Desmond has weighed into the battle against the proposed redevelopment of Liberty Hall in Dublin, The Sunday Tribune reports.
Desmond has objected on the basis that it “proceeds from a complete failure to recognise that a building of such height cannot work at that location”.
The Kaiser doesn’t mince his words with his views on the existing building either, describing it as “uninspiring and ugly”.
SIPTU’s HQ rebuild is also being opposed by Irish Life and VHI, who both have offices nearby.
Dublin City Council believes the Digital Hub will expand to include the 1.6 acre site of a former flats complex, The Sunday Tribune reports.