Profits abroad to drive home market

Property trends: Profits from international property sales and inherited wealth - along with immigration - will be significant drivers of the property market in the next 10 to 15 years, according to the chairman of the Sherry FitzGerald Group, Mark FitzGerald.

Speaking at a Dublin Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Westin Hotel earlier this week, FitzGerald said that the flow of international property profits back to Ireland and inherited wealth will be significant factors in the long-term property market.

Irish investors have done very well abroad and ultimately these profits will find their way back to Ireland, he explained.

The impact of this will be felt most in the mature Dublin property market, where "old houses are as rare as an orchid in March", he said.

Dublin and Belfast, the two main Victorian centres in Ireland, both had populations of 500,000 pre-partition, FitzGerald said.

However, significant population growth in Dublin means that there are now 34 people for every Victorian house in Dublin, compared to 14 people per house in Belfast.

In the medium term, immigration and a 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate, which gives Ireland significant competitive advantage, will be key drivers in the property market.

He described the net immigration of 50,000 people into Ireland as "very significant". Challenges for the future include pressures on our cities and meeting housing and infrastructure demand, FitzGerald told the meeting, which was sponsored by The Irish Times.

Dublin, in particular, continues to face big challenges. These challenges were predicted but were not planned for, he added.

"Any city that more than doubles in size in less than a century is going to face pressures and Dublin is no exception to this.

"We are at the point now that over the next 15 years 300,000 additional residential units will be required in the greater Dublin region. Our challenge as a society is to deliver this housing output to our younger population with progressive and integrated social and transport infrastructure."

Cork, which he described as Ireland's "biggest alternative city", is likely to experience text-book long-term growth. The city has "got a lot of fundamentals right", Fitzgerald said. It has developed good physical infrastructure with good road networks, strong satellite towns and is leading the way in 21st century architecture.