I see the future of the Irish property market. Will there be any builders developers left to build them though? Seems they’re all busy buying unsold properties from themselves, which is more than a little odd. I presume it will keep the house sales volume data up though.

He puts the increase down to rising rental yields, a growing perception among investors that interest rates are peaking and a trend where developers are mortgaging and renting out homes rather than selling into a depressed market.

I suppose it’s just another way of restructuring debt … 

I know this graph is old, and everyone’s seen it before, but Ireland has now definitely hit ‘Fear’. There are lots of anecdotal stories going around about houses dropping from €700K to €600K etc. and still generating no interest. Estate agents are laying off so many staff they are no longer able to disguise the fact. Principals of auctioneering firms are unable to sell their own houses, but reporting this FACT is a no-no. For Ken MacDonald, the Sunday Tribune article was "a massive invasion of my privacy and my family’s". I can find no reference to him feeling similarly outraged over the Sunday Independent’s coverage from last year. 

The idiocy / cute hoor level of the government will be illustrated by the upcoming budgetary efforts to re-inflate the bubble. Since the Taoiseach-in-waiting is nominally in charge of the budget, I expect all manner of tinkering with stamp duty and everything else related to property. Because that is now what our economy is based on, building and selling houses to each other. Unfortunately, the building part has just come to a very abrupt halt.

More: Goodbody Stockbrokers says Irish house prices will fall 13% from peak; GDP growth in 2008 forecast to plunge to 2.5% | Brendan Investments extends deadline (Eddie Hobbs has terrible timing)