New Home Building

We are probably building many more new homes than we need. 15% of the housing stock is empty and rental yields are scraping 2-3%. Its surprising that we should have this massive excess of supply at a time when the Irish population is growing so rapidly; with the influx of migrants who have come to our shores to serve us in shops and restaurants and .... aah.... build houses.

Daft Inventory Meath

The supply of homes for sale continues to grow during the peak selling season in County Meath.

iamfacingforeclosure.com

"I'm a 24-year-old aspiring real estate investor from Sacramento CA. After going to few seminars I bought 8 houses in 8 months across 4 states with no money down. I fixed and sold 2 and then ran out of cash. I am now facing foreclosure on 5 houses. I'm learning my lessons, finding solutions and blogging about it. Comments appreciated!"

This guy and the mess he finds himself in is attracting a lot of attention in the blogosphere.
He’s stopped taking calls from the banks he owes money because he doesn’t like their bad attitude. He is presently hatching a dastardly and highly convoluted scheme to dump the properties he bought on unsuspecting ‘credit challenged buyers’. Oh and how did he find himself with all this property in the first place? He committed several criminal frauds in obtaining mortgages. And faces the unsavory possibility of some hard time (several years) in what the Americans call the ‘Big House’.



http://iamfacingforeclosure.com/

Vacant

The number of vacant housing units in the US (9.1% of total stock) is at it's highest since 1960 (when records began). In Ireland the number of vacant units is somewhere in the region of 15%, (according to figures from the CSO) The vacancy rate in the UK is roughly 3% of housing stock. Have we repealed the laws of supply and demand in Ireland? Or are we witnessing one of the greatest speculative asset bubbles in European history?

http://www.census.gov