Property market in 'crisis' as homes sell at discount
Property is now going cheap
THE property market is in "crisis" with homes increasingly being sold at below-market asking prices, according to estate agents and auctioneers.
In a further indicator of the slowing market, the organisation representing property sellers has said there would be further job losses by year-end.
President of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI) Edward Carey said that houses and apartments were being sold at a "considerable discount".
However, people selling were not reducing the advertised prices even though homes were being sold below that level. "There is no question that the property market is going through a crisis period at the moment and I think to call it anything else would be understating it," said Mr Carey.
Agents
"Any of the agents that we are talking to are basically saying the same thing -- places are not selling. What is selling is selling at a considerable discount.
"The reasons are lack of confidence and primarily lack of finance and lack of availability of finance."
The price of property has dropped by some 20pc since 2006 and there have been a number of redundancies in the sector. In June it emerged that Lisney, one of the country's biggest estate agents, was to cut staff salaries by 10pc. Mr Carey said he expected there to be cuts in the newer entrants to the market.
"I would expect the first places that you are going to see job losses are the more recent entrants to the business. I also feel the more recent entrants would be people who would concentrate primarily or solely on residential, where the biggest downturn is occurring."
- Shane Hickey
