Your Sunday Round-Up is coming slightly earlier  – and shorter- than usual (well, it’s almost Christmas Eve!).   Below are some of the more interesting Irish and international property stories of the week.  As always, please do let me know if I have missed out on any interesting property news by emailing  carol@caroltallon.com.

New Guidelines

Monday morning saw the publication of the draft guidelines for apartment blocks by the Dept. of Housing.  There has been some pretty vicious opposition so far.  My own opinion is that we need these.  By increasing standards over the past decade, we have gone beyond issues of safety and proper building regulations (both clearly important), ending up with apartments that are  simply too large and expensive for a growing city.  Effectively, we have done away with the bottom rung of the proverbial ladder, with only the top 20% of earners being in a position to  purchase an apartment in the capital.

I joined Ciara Kelly on Lunchtime Live on Newstalk FM to discuss the proposed changes and you can listen back here: Newstalk FM

Other Property News

• Over 500 home-buyers have got the maximum €20,000 Help-to-Buy relief and around €62 million has been paid to developers under the scheme, according to this article in The Journal: http://www.thejournal.ie/help-to-buy-scheme-3-3731917-Dec2017/

• This was my favourite story of the week! Declan Ryan and the One Foundation leading the charge in meaningful support to revive local community venues.  I genuinely hope this story inspires others in small towns around rural Ireland: ‘The shop that could change Ireland’:  https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/the-shop-that-could-change-ireland-1.3331239

• Commercial agents CBRE ran an end-of-year piece on their website, which was subsequently picked up by a few of the broadsheets, detailing how €2.5 billion was invested in Irish commercial property over the past twelve months.  You can read the full article here: CBRE

• The Irish Times, quoting heavily from newly published CIF figures, confirmed that housing commencements by the end of 2017 will exceed 15,000 for first time since 2008. This represents an increase of 36% on 2016 figures.  You can get the full breakdown here:

• Economy grows 4.2% in Q3, up 10.5% on the year: RTE

• Mortgage approvals see slowest growth rate in 20 months: https://www.rte.ie/amp/929174/

• There was an interesting piece in the Connacht Tribune this week about proposals to ban cars from the city centre streets: http://connachttribune.ie/cars-banned-city-centre-streets-400/

• Developer not providing social housing at Ballsbridge site: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/developer-not-providing-social-housing-at-ballsbridge-site-1.3335690?mode=amp

• Glenveagh PLC announced the acquisition of additional sites to deliver 660 residential units at Rush, Co. Dublin, at Millennium Park in Naas, Co. Kildare for a total of €29.5 million. This is in addition to sites in Bray and Midleton, which will deliver a combined total of 210 homes.

• More than €3bn worth of hotels have changed hands in Ireland since 2012: Full story here: https://amp-breakingnews-ie.cdn.ampproject.org/c/amp.breakingnews.ie/business/more-than-3bn-worth-of-hotels-have-changed-hands-in-ireland-since-2012-survey-819792.html

Industry happenings

• For construction news, the CIF magazine this month leads with an article ‘Realising the Construction Industry’s Potential to Build Ireland’s Future’, written by yours truly (that’s my declaration of bias!), however, the entire issue is packed with insights from Irish and international speakers: Click here for magazine access

• Sisk gets the contract for Center Parcs Longford, the Forest resort will have 470 lodges and 30 apartments when completed. I saw this project presented at a planning conference earlier this year and the journey so far has been fascinating. You can read more details here  and I recommend any planners and place-makers to check out the full details with Longford County Council.

• The world’s tallest modular scheme has been approved, check out Construction Manager Magazine for the full storey here. Three years on from the RIPPLE shipping container build, I came across this piece (published three years ago) that serves to highlight just how little progress has been made;  ‘The changing face of housing in Ireland’ http://buyersbroker.ie/blog/2014/12/the-changing-face-of-housing-in-ireland/

• I came across this information on the Docklands Business Forum Facebook Page (it still counts!): “In 2017 Docklands generated 9% of Ireland’s GDP. Docklands is now growing faster than any other area of the country;

– In 2018 Docklands will continue building work space for an extra 20,000 employees. 170,000 sq m of this space is already under construction.

– 2018 will also see the continued development of residential units for over 7000 new residents. Planning permission is already granted for over 2000 new units.

– Docklands is now designated Dublin’s smart district were information and communication technologies will be used to enhance the quality and performance of urban services.”

There is lots more information there so if you are interested in learning about what’s going on there, check out the Docklands Business Forum.

Proptech

• Here is an interesting read for over the holidays: ‘How tech tackled the construction industry’s inefficiency in 2017’: https://venturebeat.com/2017/12/21/how-tech-tackled-the-construction-industrys-inefficiency-in-2017/

• As PropTech Industry Grows, Seed Funding Is Drying Up: https://commercialobserver.com/2017/12/as-proptech-industry-grows-seed-funding-is-drying-up/

To keep up-to-date on all things tech and innovation for the planning, construction and property industries, head over to http://www.prop-tech.ie, the national resource website for innovators, investors and mentors or email mailto:news@proptech.ie .

Property Insiders Guide

As many of you might know, my annual property book The Irish Property Buyers’ Handbook (since 2011) has undergone a rebrand for 2018 and will now appear as part of The Property Insider series, published by Oak Tree Press, the first three titles are now published and available here.

On a personal note, thank you all for your continued support. I genuinely appreciate it

(Finally, as always, apologies for any typos, it’s difficult to get good help on a Sunday – especially over Christmas!)

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year!