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Central Bank’s commercial property warning, fewer vacant homes than expected, and should you rent or buy?

The best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

The commercial property market is showing signs of stress. Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times.

Peter Flanagan's face
Peter Flanagan
Wed Nov 22 2023 - 06:27

It’s a property heavy edition today, and we start with an admission from one of the Central Bank’s top officials that the regulator is monitoring the commercial property market for a possible crash, as the market continues to struggle with the fall out from the pandemic and the growth in working from home.

The possibility of a commercial property crash is “one of the main risks” the central bank is currently monitoring, deputy governors Vasileios Madouros told a conference in Dublin, adding that there has been a “combination of cyclical and structural shocks” to the commercial property sector in recent times. Ellen O’Regan has the story, which comes as the European Central Bank sounds the alarm on commercial real estate too.

Ellen also reports that barely 3,000 homes have been found to be liable for the mooted vacant homes tax – far below the 25,000 estimated by Revenue previously.

Staying with property, Eoin Burke-Kennedy reveals just how tenants will be effectively given first refusal to bid for their home if their landlord decides to sell, under forthcoming legislation, while the Central Bank is carefully watching loan arrears data as interest rates stay high

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Should you try to buy a home, or keep renting? It’s an eternal question and one that may not always seem to have a clear answer. But Brianna Parkins outlines what to watch out for if you are contemplating taking the plunge.

The cap on passenger numbers at Dublin Airport has been a hot button topic for some time now, and on Wednesday, DAA chief executive Kenny Jacobs will tell an Oireachtas committee just what is at stake. Colin Gleeson has the details.

Restricting passenger numbers at the country’s main hub may have an impact on tourism in the future, but not at the moment. Occupancy and room rates in Irish hotels rose modestly in October, but all of the growth was based outside Dublin, according to data from hospitality analyst CoStar. Colin has the story.

CRH shares jumped on Tuesday after the building material giant said it would spend $2.1 billion to buy concrete assets in Texas from Martin Marietta and said earnings this year would be well ahead of 2022. Colin has the details.

Ireland is set to have its first satellite in space, with the launch of Eirsat-1 on a forthcoming Space X launch in the US. Ellen reports.

A private company that operates a chain of nursing homes has been sold to a group of Irish investors after the healthcare watchdog raised concerns about governance at some of the facilities. Shauna Bowers reports that Aperee Living ran 10 nursing homes in the State, but three of those were ordered to close by the Health Information Quality Authority in September, due to governance shortcomings and concerns for residents’ safety.

If you can forgive us some internal back slapping, writers from The Irish Times have been shortlisted for five awards in this year’s UCD Smurfit School Business Journalist Awards. Ciaran Hancock has the nominees.

In Commercial Property, Ronald Quinlan reports that US investor Franklin Templeton is paying €75m for a Dublin social housing portfolio, while Irish Life has completed the €49 million purchase of a Dalkey apartment scheme.

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