Housing woes mount, Smyths expands in Germany and snared in an endowment mortgage

It now takes more than 15 years to save for a deposit for a home in Wicklow and Kildare, while the average first-time buyer would need a multiple of almost five times their annual income – far in excess of that allowed under Central Bank rules – to qualify for a mortgage in these counties. Fiona Reddan reports.

Smyths Toys has begun its expansion in the central European market, after completing the rebranding of the region's former Toys R Us division that it bought last year for up to €79 million. Mark Paul reports.

The exchequer reaped an inheritance tax windfall last year, as the amount collected reached a record high of some €466.3 million on the back of soaring property prices and largely unchanged tax free thresholds, writes Fiona Reddan. More than half of all the tax collected was paid by grandchildren, nieces and nephews who inherited more than €32,500 from a relative last year.

The exchequer reaped an inheritance tax windfall last year, as the amount collected reached a record high of some €466.3 million on the back of soaring property prices and largely unchanged tax free thresholds. More than half of all the tax collected was paid by grandchildren, nieces and nephews who inherited more than €32,500 from a relative last year. Fiona Reddan has the details.

Inheritance tax at record high due to soaring property prices

---

Stocktake: Bearish fund managers wary of market rally

---

Woodford’s fall a salutary tale on the cult of the superstar fund manager

---

‘Cash buyers only’: The true cost of shoddy boomtime home construction

---

In her weekly medial column Laura Slattery says that regulation of the broadcasting sector has struggled to keep up with its realities.

Fiona Reddan wonders whether, with defects continually emerging, should you buy a property built during the Celtic Tiger era?

Cantillon thinks that Paschal Donohoe will play his Summer Economic Statement cards close to his chest and that it is still clear as mud for Irish business when it comes to Brexit.

Dominic Coyle deals with a personal finance question from someone still wrestling with the financial fallout of the disaster that was endowment mortgages.

Me & My Money talks to Michael Lyster, Irish Heart Foundation ambassador and former Sunday Game presenter.

Proinsias O'Mahony says that the fall of superstar fund manager Neil Woodford is a salutary tale.

Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our business news alerts and our Business Today daily email news digest.