Baby I’ve been here before, I know this room and I walked this floor…
The Irish Examiner reports today claims made by Marian Finnegan of property auctioneer Sherry Fitzgerald, who suggests that “The latest census figures show that Ireland’s population has risen to 4.58 million and it is expected to increase to 5.1 million people by 2026,”, and therefore Ireland will need 30,000 new homes per year. This story seems familiar. The narrative goes something like this: Ireland had a property boom. It went bust. However, the extent of this bust has been greatly exaggerated. Ireland still has a growing population. This new population will need new houses. The current stock of empty properties will not be sufficient. If we do not build now we will be in trouble later. This ‘property resurrection’ genre is being pumped out every couple months, the basic storyline being augmented by this or that piece of data. But with much of genre fiction the plot is wafer thin. In this instance, two glaring plot holes are; Firstly, given that the majority of the population increases cited by Finnegan are new births (363,500 over the period 2006-2011 according to the CSO), and there generally isn’t a huge demand for houses amongst toddlers, it will probably be some time before this rise in population is felt in terms of the property market. Secondly, with a national unemployment rate of around 14.5% and a string of banks up to their necks in debt who have done a u-turn in their lending practices, who will be in a position to buy these houses? This particular genre is sounding a bit desperate. I think we need some new kinds of stories.
Cian O’Callaghan
Ireland after NAMA 
September 12, 2011 at 5:54 pm
An economist for an estate agent telling us that we need more houses? Is that a surprise?
September 12, 2011 at 7:06 pm
She is a “property porn” star!
September 12, 2011 at 10:59 pm
She is not, by any chance related to the crooked auctioneer John Finnegan now deceased ?(a very close Friend of Fianna Fail) who operated a prestigious auctioneering firm in Merrion Row, Dublin.
He was a big player in the “Enterprise”, digital hub sites, in the Liberties area of Dublin, that went belly up with huge waste of taxpayers money some years ago (another of Bertie Ahern’s pet brainstorm fiasco’s creating “jobs for the boys”)
Finnegan was a former Ansbacher Account holder ,a crook,a tax dodger and typical of the weasels who appeared before the Mahon Tribunal.
http://www.soldiersofdestiny.org/celialarkin.htm
All past history now.
September 13, 2011 at 9:20 am
Here’s Marian Finnegan in 2006: “The Irish market is showing a phenomenal performance in terms of output and prices so I will rate it 10 out of 10. A record 80,000 new homes units are being built and average prices for second hand homes increased by about 15% nationally and 20% in Dublin in 2005 … The strength of the economy, employment growth and immigration will enhance demand. However any rise in interest rates may temper a purchaser’s desire to go that extra mile or thousand euro for a property. Consequently house price inflation could slow with rises in the second-hand market likely to be closer to 10% nationallly and slightly higher in the main cities … Property still looks like providing fantastic opportunities in the years ahead. However growth will not be as even handed. Demand will increase for larger, well-located properties in order to accommodate the first time buyers of recent years who will wish to trade to larger homes for growing families and for working from home.”
Source: http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/property/marian-finnegan-is-chief-economist-with-sherry-fitzgerald-group-117332.html