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A report from accountants PwC has revealed Dublin is now the third-most attractive city in Europe for investors in property, up from seventh a year earlier.

The growth of big tech companies such as Facebook and Google is adding to the demand for housing.

The report said this was behind the growth of so-called “build-to-rent” housing, in which developers build whole apartment blocks to be sold off to big landlords.

Joanne Kelly, real estate leader at PwC Ireland, said big investors had shifted towards residential property in recent years.

Foreign investors rush to cash in on our housing crisis (Independent.ie)

David Chabily writes:

Why is nothing being discussed about, at the least temporarily, banning foreign investors from sucking up Irish property?

New Zealand have already done this, and likely Berlin will too.

Anyone?

Pic: Shutterstock

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12 thoughts on “Ask A Broadsheet Reader

  1. Dandy

    Brexit will be the disaster for our economy if a hard brexit happens and it looks very much the case
    Our economy is very exposed and the fact that housing is so expensive means wages have to be high
    If we have a recession then all these greedy investors will get burnt very badly when the crash happens
    Our leadership are the archeticts of the perfect storm by not tackling our out of control housing market

  2. Joe Small

    Firstly, under EU law we can’t ban EU citizens or businesses buying property here. Secondly, under the many trade and investment treaties the EU has signed with countries throughout the world, a right to purchase property can be included. I doubt Berlin can simply ban all foreigners from buying property.

  3. Rob_G

    Why would we want to ban foreign property investors? The increased availability of funds will incentivise builders to build apartments instead of hotels and office buildings; this is what is needed.

    1. b

      +1 these investors who are shifting from commercial to residential aren’t buying up the odd apartment or semi-d. They are building and financing developments and adding to supply

      1. Col

        BUT, doesn’t that mean that more apartment blocks will be bought up in one go by investors who can rent it out instead of selling each individual unit?
        If they did sell individually:
        1. People could pay a mortgage instead of paying rent (higher than a mortgage)
        2. These areas would have more long-term, settled communities

        1. Rob_G

          The report specifically mentions “build-to-rent” – the investors would add new units to the housing stock, and then rent them out.

          Not that the two points you make are invalid, but we need new housing stock ASAP – if this is the most attractive model for investors to get building, and quickly, I am all for it.

    2. scottser

      our local authorities are their biggest customers. most of these investors are european pension funds doing long-term rental deals on multiple blocks of properties. it begs the question why we aren’t investing in our own property market given that it’s so lucrative?

  4. Eoin Rogan

    Facebook, Google, Netflix, Apple etc. all these top S&P 500 companies are on unstable ground. Their vastly overpriced shares are entirely based on pure speculation rather than any fundamental value. Apple, Facebook and Netflix are currently facing serious issues. Apple can’t sell enough new gizmos due to market saturation, Netflix are loosing money every year and have to fluff their books to look good and Facebook (and Twitter etc.) are in trouble with regards their open platform vs. publisher status legal issues. And now we have a housing bubble built on these companies expanding here? I’d be wary about betting on housing here.

    1. andy

      Facebook, Google & Apple have bullet proof balance sheets and incredible free cash flows.
      Their share price has no bearing on the financial stability of these businesses.
      And none of these 3 are insanely overvalued given their growth rates & operating margins.

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