PROPERTY PRICES will bottom out in the first half of 2010 and may rise by as much as 10 per cent by the end of the year, managing partner of Bloxham Stockbrokers Pramit Ghose has predicted.
In an upbeat “annual surprise list” published yesterday, Mr Ghose predicted that the Irish “prime” commercial and residential property markets will start to recover modestly after bottoming out in spring or summer of this year.
This recovery will be driven by factors such as “pent-up demand, attractive yields, renewed international demand and improving mortgage availability”, he said.
He expects both commercial and residential property prices to rise by between 7 and 10 per cent by the end of 2010, and believes that this positive momentum will continue into 2011.
Daft’s latest house price report published earlier this week showed that national residential property prices are now 30 per cent below asking levels in early 2007, having fallen by almost 20 per cent last year alone.
Among the “unusual investment possibilities” included in Mr Ghose’s “surprise” list is the expectation that the recapitalisation of the two major Irish banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, will be greeted enthusiastically by private investors.
Nationalisation of the banks will thus be avoided, he predicts, and will facilitate the recovery of their share prices over the coming years.
Mr Ghose also predicted that the share prices of both banks will break the €3 mark again at some point this year.
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