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1
On Thursday the High Court overturned Dun-Laoighre Rathdown County Council’s refusal to grant planning permission to a company owned by developer Michael O’Flynn for a €75 million development in South Dublin.
The Irish Examiner reported that O’Flynn Capital Partners had applied to build 164 residential units at Beech Park, Bray Rd, Cabinteely/Loughlinstown, but was refused permission by the Council.
The Judgement found that the council had taken irrelevant matters into account when making its decision and has referred the matter back to the council to make a fresh decision.
2
The Irish Independent has reported that NAMA is to back a massive development by Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore in Co. Kildare.
Ballymore intend to build 300 homes in Naas, Co. Kildare in a mix of three and four bedroom attached and semi-detached houses.
NAMA is increasingly getting into the development game in an effort to bring more properties to the market and maximising income. It told the government last year that it will back development of 20,000 residential properties by 2020.
3
Irish Residential Properties (I-RES) REIT has €150 million to spend on Irish properties to add to its already mammoth portfolio of more than 2,000 properties.
The company, which according to chief executive David Ehrlich is the “largest non-governmental landlord in Ireland, with 2,288 apartments”, spent almost €154 million on properties in the first half of 2016 already.
The Irish Examiner reports that the next €150 million is budgeted on a combination of NAMA portfolio sales and private acquisitions.
4
Almost 1,900 purpose built student housing units are to be brought to the market in Dublin alone by 2017, according to figures compiled by Dublin City Council. The statistics highlight the rapid increase in purpose-built student housing in university cities in Ireland.
The phenomenon of purpose built student housing was almost unknown in Ireland before Ziggurat Student accommodation purchased the former Montrose Hotel site and converted it to student accommodation – the market now looks set to take off here.
5
The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that NAMA intends to put more than 400 apartments at the St. Edmunds development in Palmerstown, which were developed by Glenkerrin Homes, on the market in the autumn.
NAMA had funded the completion of some of the development and it is believed that it will be looking for a price tag north of €40 million for the development.
It is believed that NAMA will also bring another former Glenkerrin project, the Grange in Stillorgan, to the market next year. The Grange is currently being completed with backing from NAMA.
6
Ireland’s biggest company CRH is to rake in even bigger profits than originally thought this year on the back of strong growth in the US market, according to Davy Stockbrokers.
CRH doesn’t publish its interim results until August 25th but Davy believes that the construction materials company, which operates at 1,200 locations in 44 states in the US, will report earnings of €3.1 billion in 2016.
7
According to the Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index, the Irish construction industry is continuing to expand, although the banks economists say that the extent by which the domestic Irish market will be hit by the fallout from the Brexit vote in the UK is still uncertain.
Things are not quite as positive in the UK, where figures show that there has been a fall off in activity following the vote. Economists there hope that the market can bounce back despite the serious political and economic uncertainty, but at present hope is all that it seems to be.
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One of the major threats to that domestic industry was highlighted during the week by the Construction Industry Federation – a serious lack of investment in infrastructure.
In its pre-budget submission to the Department of Finance the CIF gave instances of large developments that are being stymied by a lack of investment by the state, including sites in the Dublin area which have capacity for up to 13,000 properties.
Quite how the state expects private firms to bring homes to the market when driveways are not connected to roads, or bathrooms to the sewage system, is anyone’s guess.
9
According to the GeoView Residential Report for the second quarter of 2016, the national property turnover rate was down on the same period in 2015.
The report found that just 2.1 per cent of the properties in the state were sold in the period, and that when Dublin is excluded the rate falls to just 1.5 per cent.
The figures amount to less than half of what the rates would be in a normal, functioning housing market.
The report also found that just under one in four of all buildings under construction in Ireland were located in Dublin, while Cork and Galway accounted for 12.4 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively.
And finally…
10
Last week property mogul Paddy McKillen revealed his secret ambition to the Wall Street Journal – “I’m probably the most frustrated architect or artist: I can’t draw a straight line–I leave that to the experts,” he told the US newspaper from Château La Coste, his 600-acre estate in the heart of Provence.
The Belfast born developer first purchased the Chateau in 2002 and it has been open to the public since 2011. It features an organic winery and art and architecture park with works by 26 architects and artists, including Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel and Renzo Piano, some of the biggest names in the world of architecture.
Perhaps he could ask them for a few pointers?