AroundtheBlock

Holding on to your old home: Investors are back, snapping up apartments in new schemes and scouring the small ads for fixer-uppers.

But the easiest investment of all seems to be holding onto your old home when you buy a new one. Agents say more house buyers are keeping their old home when they trade up, switching to an interest-only loan on their old home which can then be serviced by a good rental. The attraction is obvious - with house prices moving up, there's the worry of selling too soon. Short term, it's a lot of debt, but some try it for a year, after which they sell the old home incurring capital gains tax. But this is providing a new headache for agents who complain of a shortage of houses coming on the market, particularly smaller, more affordable houses. Those ready to trade down are being particularly affected, as there is little to trade down to, unless they bought a trade down home years ago for buttons.

Less PR, more action

Good to see that Treasury has got the funds together to develop the second phase of Spencer Dock - Dublin's longest awaited apartment and office scheme. This week Treasury's PR machine Fleishman was trumpeting that its client was "Ireland's largest and most successful property development company". The reality is quite different as, while Treasury has a vast portfolio, most of it is on the investment side. It has built precious little in recent years, unlike companies like Ballymore, MacInerney and Menolly. There are other contenders for the title, including David Daly's Albany, and Cosgraves. Treasury would be better off getting stuck into some of the great projects on its drawingboard, and a bit less of the waffle from PRs.

Riots bad for business

Nothing like a riot to shake confidence in the retail business, but also in the city's office and apartment market. Last weekend's riots sent a ripple of anxiety through the real estate industry, although there is no immediate threat to business. But, with the prospects of a re-run of the Love Ulster march, and the Government to stage a 1916 commemoration at Easter, not to mention Sinn Féin's plans to celebrate the event, there is a fear that Ireland's reputation as a great place to do business in will take a battering. A recurrence of the riots could have an immediate effect on city shopping. It's no coincidence that footfall was up 15 per cent at Dundrum Town Centre last Sunday.

Kilmacanogue frenzy

Throngs of buyers turned out last Saturday for HOK's launch of Rocky Valley Crescent in Kilmacanogue. Twenty-five houses at €1.25-€2 million at this Laragan scheme were snapped up and a waiting list is likely to take up the final seven when they come on the market later in the year. The council's ruling that buyers have to live or work in Co Wicklow wasn't an issue, says HOK's Ronan O'Driscoll.