Dress code for the The 1916 Lost Leaders March on Good Friday in Dublin.
The march will include the Irish Volunteer Cavalry, re-enactors including the Cabra Historical Society, American Diaspora, 1916 relatives, executed leaders Guard of Honour, Women of the Revolution and marching bands. Gerry Adams will be the main speaker….
From top: Tyrrlestown, Co Dublin; Dr Julien Mercille
Property vulture funds are circling Europe.
Have we any protection?
Dr Julien Mercille writes:
Up to 200 Tyrrelstown residents now face eviction from their homes.This is because Goldman Sachs bought from Ulster Bank a loan to property developers Michael and Richard Larkin. The loan is secured on their Cruise Park development.
The key aspect of the deal with Goldman Sachs is the sale of 208 houses, which means that families that have rented these homes for up to ten years must now leave.
In short, when vulture funds like Goldman Sachs buy loans tied to properties, business-friendly regulation leaves occupants vulnerable.
An interesting element in this story that has not received much attention is the fact that it is a pan-European issue. In other words, the situation we face in Ireland is similar to that in a number of other countries.
How did we end up there?
When the financial crisis struck in 2008-2009, banks throughout Europe realised that they had made a bunch of bad loans. We’re familiar with the likes of Anglo Irish and a string of bad loans to developers and builders, but the phenomenon was replicated elsewhere, in places like Spain for example, which also saw a massive housing bubble grow to dizzying heights before collapsing abruptly.
In the wake of the crash, European governments set up ‘bad banks’ (NAMA is ours) to buy the bad loans of the banks.
The ‘bad banks’ are now trying to sell those loans to global private investors. Because a lot of the loans are tied to properties, when a global investor buys a package of loans, some control over the properties comes with it.
In Europe as a whole, ‘bad banks’ like NAMA hold about €264 billion of real estate assets that will be sold to private investors within the next decade. It is estimated that 51% of these assets are residential properties, 31% commercial properties, and 18% development and land. The bulk of the assets are located in Spain, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
There is a very good short report here describing all this.
It surveys ten of the most important bad banks, which are, in order of value of the real estate assets they hold and will sell to investors: SAREB (Spain, €107bn), UKAR (UK, €107bn), NAMA (Ireland, €73.4bn), IBRC (Ireland, €21.9bn), FMS (Germany, €19.7bn), EEA (Germany, €15.9bn), Propertize (Netherlands, €7.4bn), KA Finanz (Austria, €3.6bn), BES bad bank (Portugal, €2.9bn) and DUTB (Slovenia, €1.3bn).
All those are at various stages of selling their assets, a process which is expected to continue strongly in the coming years.
The map (above) shows all the sales of such loans for the year 2014. The UK, Spain and Ireland account for 83% of the sales.
The main buyers of the assets are private equity firms, mostly from the United States, but also from Europe.
Examples include Lone Star, Cerberus, CarVal, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank. The assets are also purchased by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which are real estate companies in which global investors can take shares and receive dividends from the rental income generated by the properties owned by the REIT.
REITs are attractive because they pay little or no corporate taxes. Spanish and Irish REITs have been particularly active recently to channel investors’ global funds into European property.
But this is not all. In fact, the total value of real estate assets available in Europe for investors to grab is about €531 billion.
This includes the €264 billion above but it also adds the assets held by banks not formally part of bad banks. There’s a very good short report on this here.
When global investors capture properties anywhere in Europe, there is a risk for the occupants. Some countries offer more protection to them than others, however.
For example, the Sunday Business Post mentioned that what is happening in Ireland, with tenants facing eviction in Tyrrelstown and elsewhere, would never happen in Germany, where they are better protected.
Once again, it all boils down to the balance of power between people and corporations: Ireland caters to the needs and interests of global investors; but it should look after the needs of the people instead.
Julien Mercille is a lecturer at University College Dublin. Follow him on Twitter: @JulienMercille
Yikes.
Stephen Malone writes:
Whoever is working on the Late Late questions maybe needs to put a bit more thought in.
Splutter!
Dee Gorman writes:
“New shoe shop in Brixton…”
*It’s not a caption competition until you say so*
You may recall how, last Tuesday, RTÉ Radio One journalist Brian O’Connell reported that Grant Thornton had sent letters to 35 tenants in the Eden residential complex in Blackrock, Cork, in January – informing them that they had to leave their property by last Friday, March 18 – as the receiver intends to sell the properties.
The notices to leave were sent after the residents’ rent was increased by 25 per cent last July.
The Eden complex has around 300 units while Grant Thornton controls 127 in total.
It’s understood 20 of the 35 homes have been vacated.
Further to Mr O’Connell’s report last Tuesday, a letter was sent out last Friday by Grant Thornton to the tenants in the receiver’s remaining properties in Eden.
Mr O’Connell reported:
“The letter references the recent media coverage, it confirms that the initial 35 units are still to be sold but, crucially, in relation to the remaining properties, Grant Thornton now say that there will be no more sales in 2016, so it will be 2017, at the earliest, before any of the other properties are sold…They say, it’s the intention now of Grant Thornton to sell the remaining properties with the tenancies in place. It says in the letter, “please be assured that your tenancy is not affected”… It’s obviously good news for the remaining tenants in the 90 or so units who were very concerned.”
However, Celso Lemos, a Brazilian father-of-two, who had lived in Eden for five years and recently moved out after receiving notice to leave in January, told Mr O’Connell:
“The residents who are staying in Eden at the moment were waiting for an eviction notice this year. Apparently they heard that no further notice will be issued… We got no letter telling us, ‘stay calm, you’re sale is going to happen at a certain time of the year’. We were not told that we could stay in our property, we were just told that you must leave. So it’s already a change from what we had. However it’s too late for us. I have moved out, along with another 20 families, and there are still a few families in the area waiting to see whether they will get an extension.”
Meanwhile, in a statement, a Grant Thornton spokesperson explained the proceeds earned from the sale of the 35 Eden properties will be used to build more properties in the development:
“The instruction as Receiver encompasses a total of 127 units plus undeveloped land within the wider Eden scheme. In response to market demand, the Receiver now plans to sell the units located at the Eden complex. The proceeds of the planned sale of these units will be utilised to fund further development of new residential housing on the Eden site. The undeveloped site has capacity to facilitate more than 100 new dwellings.”
Previously: Meanwhile In Cork
Pic: Brian O’Connell
Listen back in full here
The Scarlet Phibsbernel writes:
An update on the forced West-Belfastisation of Dublin 7. This recruiting drive (above) was brought to you by the good people in Republican Cabra (brought to you by SF [brought to you by you-know-who] )
Fight!
Previously: You’re Terrible, Mural
Turn and face the strange.
Stewart Lambert writes:
On the streets of Dublin, I put the question “What has been the biggest change in your life and how did you deal with it?” to the public. I was surprised and encouraged by their honesty.
Yesterday’s Sunday Times
Further to popular radio host Sue Nunn’s disappearance from the Kilkenny/Carlow airwaves.
Legal sabre-rattling (above) from Sue Nunn’s replacement John Masterson and his business partner, KCLR FM chief executive, John Purcell.
More as we get it.
Radio star Nunn airs her grievances with station (Sunday Times – behind paywall)
Previously: Where Is Sue Nunn
Pay with a poem?
Coffee for couplets?
Oh go on then.
Aidan Coughlan, of Lovin’ Dublin (and acclaimed editor of the buke), writes:
The concept is every bit as simple as it sounds – customers can opt to hand over a poem, written or spoken, in lieu of cash payments for their caffeine fix today.
We pulled the idea together at Lovin Dublin after local poet Kerrie O’Brien pointed out to us that a similar campaign was taking place across Europe, but that no Irish cafés were taking part. So we put out the call on Friday, and got a lovely pickup over the weekend, despite the very short notice….Viva, Portobello
BB’s Coffee and Co, Hanover Quay
Clement and Pekoe, South William Street
Il Posto, St Stephen’s Green
Two Pups Coffee, Francis Street
Nick’s Coffee Co, Ranelagh (10am-close)
Books Upstairs, D’Olier Street (5-7pm)
Sasha House Petite, Drury Street (2pm-7pm)
Kaph, Drury Street (12-1pm – also, read your poem aloud for the chance to win a bag of coffee to take home)
What you may need to know:
1. David Yates directs the nth adaption of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ source material for Warner Bros.
2. Cheetah! Boy! Umgawa!
3. With a shirtless Alexander Skarsgård (for the laydees), Margot Robbie (for the gents), and Christoph Waltz in full moustache-twirling villain mode.
4. For once, the monkey is not played by Andy Serkis.
5. Broadsheet prognosis: Needs more loincloth.
Release Date: 8 July.
(Mark writes about film, TV and other stuff at WhyBother.ie)
