Speculators aim high but we want big

MR DUNNE’S attention will be focused this week not so much on the AIB dilemma but on the pending decision of An Bord Pleanála on his controversial high-rise on the Jury’s Doyle site.

There is a lot hanging on the decision, not just for Dunne but for the property market generally. The challenges faced by the Co Carlow developer have been underlined by the considerable spread he attracted in the New York Times, word of which got back to Dublin in a nano second, particularly the word "insolvent".

The board’s ruling on whether to allow the tower comes against the background of a rapidly changing market.

There has been a rush to build apartments in the city over the last decade, but with a serious surplus of units, both investors and families looking for a decent-sized home are increasingly seeking houses rather than apartments. It is no secret that many of the blocks built in the city by other developers in recent years have fallen far short of the ideal.

Cash buyers are sniffing around bargain redbricks, rather than putting their name down on lists for yet-to-be-built units.