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Dublin Rents and Irish Journalism: The Myth of Demand
Read more about: Dublin, Economy, Housing, Media, News
Property in Ireland - its sale and rental - is not just a social issue, it’s a political issue. And it is covered by journalists as a political issue. Recently we saw a highly publicised campaign by the Irish Times and the Irish Independent to see stamp duty cut. The argument was that stamp duty was a hindrance to the property market, that somehow, it was culpable in the downturn in sales.
There are some people who ask: is there a conflict of interest between owning a property website and reporting the facts?
It is asked as if it is a reasonable point to hold - as if any other answer, except to say, “of course there’s a conflict of interest you idiot,”, is somehow possible.
Now, the Irish Times owns myhome.ie, and the Irish Independent owns propertynews.com. As such, the chances of getting anything approaching a balanced view of the Irish property market is simply impossible - given the fact that both have invested heavily in what is a multi-billion Euro industry. And nowhere has this bias shown itself more clearly than in last week’s pronouncements by the Independent and the Irish Times that rents are going up, and that once again it is a good time to buy.
Last week I downloaded the details of the first one hundred properties for rent in Dublin, as listed on Daft.ie. It is now eight days later, and I’ve returned to those listings, to see how they are getting on. what I found is that rents continue to drop in the capital. Not only that, the vast majority of properties remain unoccupied. I also discovered that the majority of these properties have been re-listed under new/re-listed, in that today, their page says something like “ENTERED TODAY, 6 HOURS 43 MINUTES AGO” when in fact I’ve got a copy of the page that’s at least seven days old. I suppose the “/” gets daft.ie out of any trouble, but it seems that there is a seven day cycle on daft.ie, which can give the illusion of fast-moving rentals - when nothing could be further from the truth.
Overall, of the one hundred properties, only fifteen have found people to rent them. That leaves eighty five properties still on the market, of which eight have dropped their asking price.
Below, the properties that have dropped in rent.
1. 
Blokye, Harbour Road, Dalkey, South Co. Dublin. 3 bedrooms. Daft reference: www.daft.ie/212111. Listed on 29 November at €3,750 a month. Now, €3,500 a month.
2. 
62 The Cresent, Carrickmines Manor, Carrickmines, Dublin 18. 2 bedrooms. Daft reference: www.daft.ie/214254. Listed on 29 November at €1,750 a month. Now, €1,650 a month.
3. 
Beacon South Quarter, Sandyford, Dublin 18, South Co. Dublin. 2 bedrooms. Daft reference: www.daft.ie/229336. Listed on 29 November at €1,700 a month. Now, €1,600 a month.
4. 
Duncairn Court, Sweetmans Avenue, Blackrock, South Co. Dublin. 2 bedrooms. Daft reference: www.daft.ie/212687. Listed on 29 November at €1,800 a month. Now, €1,600 a month.
5. 
Cedarhurst Green, Phoenix Park Racecourse, Castleknock, Dublin 15. 2 bedrooms. Daft reference: www.daft.ie/24583. Listed on 29 November at €1,650 a month. now, €1,500 a month.
6. 
Cubes 6, Beacon South Quarter, Sandyford, Dublin 18. 2 bedrooms. Daft reference: www.daft.ie/28256. List on 29 November at €1,750 a month. now, €1,700 a month.
7. 
Duncairn Court, Blackrock, South Co. Dublin. 2 bedrooms. Daft reference: www.daft.ie/212855. Listed on 29 November at €1,800 a month. now, €1,600 a month.
8. 
Shrewsbury Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. 3 bedrooms. Daft reference: www.daft.ie/27056. Listed on 29 November at €4,000 a month. Now, €3,500 a month.
(Added 2.35pm) Here: the properties that have found tenants.
1. Slaney Lodge, 38 Upper Rathmines Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6. Studio. €750 per month.
2. St Andrews Hall, Main Street,, Lucan, West Co. Dublin. One bedroomed. €1,000 per month.
3. Dollymount Grove, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Three bedroomed. €2,100 a month.
4. Boroimhe Hawthorns, Swords, North Co. Dublin. Two bedroomed. €1,250 a month.
5. Pembroke Square, Dublin 2, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Three bedroomed. €2,250 a month.
6. Mountbrook, Stillorgan, South Co. Dublin. Two bedroomed. €1,500 a month.
7. Merton Drive, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Four bedroomed. €3,500 a month.
8. The Cubes, Beacon South Quarter, Sandyford, Dublin 18. Two bedroomed. €1,700 a month.
9. Crosbies Yard, Ossory Road, North Strand, Dublin 3. Two bedroomed. €1,500 a month.
10. Hollybank Avenue Lower, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Three bedroomed. €2,500 a month.
11. Silchester Wood, Glenageary, South Co. Dublin. Five bedroomed. €4,000 a month.
12. Collegewood, Castleknock, Dublin 15. Six bedroomed (three single, three double). €3,000 a month.
13. Amber, The Grange (Off Brewery Road), Stillorgan. Two bedroomed. €1,600 a month.
14. Clarion Quay, Custom House Square, IFSC, Dublin 1. One bedroomed. Short-term lease. €590 a week.
15. 11A Lansdowne Valley Apartments, Slievebloom Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12. One bedroomed. €1,150 a month.
Nice work.
Thanks Simon, I appreciate that. And thanks to Cian(?) or yourself(?) for tidying up the photos! It’s much more user-friendly now!
really good work actually. Equally I dont expect that stamp duty will do much to change this. The houses are rarely bought with one’s savings, they are bought with loans. Credit and banks approach to lenders is the major factor in buying a house.
Interesting to see rental demand is also slowing, paradoxically it could be the incessant drumming of a rental boom by papers that disencourages people from moving out of their current abode. Unintended consequences and all that.
Good work.
p.s just tidied up the pics.
Thing about Stamp duty is that it might work more as a good news story rather then a boom maker in itself if you get me. Make people feel confident in the market rather then incentives it more.
The thing about rental demand is that it’s been stagnant since at least 200o. Recently it’s been talked up by the property website players such as the Irish Times and the Independent, but really the information above is nothing out of the ordinary with regard to rental. what makes it seem unusual is that the self-interest pronouncements of said newspapers bears little relation to the above reality.
The idea that the Irish Times can talk the way it does about property, and still call itself the paper of record, is simply laughable. It’s a joke.
The point to see Conor is does the Irish Examiner take a different tack. As far as I know it does not have a property website it does have a property supplement though.
I tried accessing the Irish examiner online just now and all I got this:
Bad Request (Invalid Hostname)
WTF????
Seems to be down.
This goes to show there never really was a shortage of any accomodation at any time. Instead there was an an artificial constriction of supplying due to the following:
1) People who simply can’t afford to buy were somehow fooled into buying anyway. This meant they had a big house to themselves instead of sharing it with others.
2) Speculators would buy a house and keep it empty for a while, expecting to make capital gains forever.
3) Young couples (and some single people) would buy a 4 bedroom house immediately
Taken together, the above gave the impression that there was a shortage of housing, whereas the reality was a misuse and misallocation of housing. This caused the price to go up a little, which then caused more people to decide to do the above. This vicious circle was bound to end sooner or later.
What’ll happen now is that everyone will realise the capital gains were just a mirage. They’ll realise that mortgages do have to be paid off by somebody, and that the mortgage payments are ridiculous now that the capital gains are negative (and will return to a measly +3 or +4 per cent a year in the distant future). Everybody in the above three categories will have to rent out, or move into smaller accomodation, or be repossessed, or something like that. Whatever happens, we’ll find better use of the existing housing stock.
Prices will drop, people will share more, and a virtuous circle will move prices down to prices around 2002 or maybe earlier.
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
Hi, just as a matter of (possible) interest: Merton Drive, Ranelagh went on rent at 3000 insteat 3500!
Regards.