Industry quietly content over Nama discount

FOR AN INDUSTRY usually quite vocal on any new Government fiscal policies, the property sector was uncharacteristically quiet yesterday after the Government unveiled Nama’s plans for buying property loans from the banks.

Just one body, the IAVI, came out in support of Nama but warned that it should not become an “overpopulated quango”.

There wasn’t as much as a squeak from most others in the industry, nor from the Construction Industry Federation even though many of its members are in deep trouble as a result of the collapse in property values.

With even retail buildings on Dublin’s high streets down in value by 50 per cent, many developers will be only too happy to see their loans passed on to Nama at a discount of only 30 per cent. The fall in values has been considerably greater in outlying areas while the write-down in the provinces may be as high as 75 per cent in some cases.

Meanwhile the housing industry will be keeping its fingers crossed that “ordinary” bank funding will become available again in the coming months once the toxic loans have been removed from the banks’ books.

But that it unlikely to happen until funding is made available first to small businesses being choked because of the absence of credit.