Comments on: CSO totally trust estate agent rental prices - Can you see where this is going?

By: fpl

fpl — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:11:22 +0000

The EAs are sailing very close to the wind. They should now be investigated by the competition authority for a cartel like manipulation of the market through dissemination of misleading price information.

By: Branedy

Branedy — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:45:14 +0000

Remember CSO is Cork Statistics Office, There are lies, and then Statistics.

By: Branedy

Branedy — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:44:03 +0000

Say anything in support of the government, who wish for a growing economy, that’s the CSO motto.

By: John O'Shea

John O'Shea — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:51:22 +0000

I wonder, is knowingly filing false returns to the CSO illegal or do they use different collection methods for this rental data?

The CSO Data Protocol statement (http://www.cso.ie/aboutus/data_protocol/introduction.htm) has a striking statement

“The credibility and reputation of the CSO depends on maximising the value and utility of the data available to it, while at the same time protecting the confidentiality of the individual persons and businesses supplying the data.”

No mention of this credibility and reputation being at the mercy of individuals and businesses supplying accurate data. If it is proven that their methodology in collecting this data does not reflect reality on the ground then how reliable are the rest of the metrics they publish? Credibility and reputation are key to the CSO, I’m surprised they would be so lax (but then, this is Ireland)

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:15:43 +0000

Migrant workers are a huge source of rental income. Assuming former immigrants to Ireland, who came to work in construction, are now becoming emigrants from Ireland (as is happening in the UK at the moment) then there will be far more rental properties on the market… hence the jump recorded by Daft.

Two things happen now. On one end the increased availability of rental property isn’t a bad thing as many potential buyers may now be putting off purchasing and choosing to rent instead. However at the same time enough of an increase will mean more competition forcing prices down.

As prices go down people who bought properties to rent will now have a harder time covering the huge mortgages they took out to buy the properties in the first place… they may even have a hard time finding tenants so they’ll have to think about selling.

As more and more former rental properties come on the market we’ll see the price of housing drop even further. Hurrah.

It’s funny really - the migrants were coming here to build houses to satisfy a demand that they were adding significant weight to. Now that demand has peaked and construction has slowed they’re leaving, meaning all those houses they build and occupied are going to start flooding the market.

Any major shift in migration figures would mean a huge drop in both rental prices and purchase prices - all at a time when the market is naturally slowing or even reversing.