Why Irish construction workers are leaving..........

[Stock]

This is an article from today's Irish times, just shows why there will be no building here for a while..................

Woman buys back brother's repossessed house at auction

Orla Mulvey and husband Martin after yesterday's Merlin auction.
THERE WAS a little bit of magic at the second Merlin property auction in Dublin yesterday when a woman successfully bought back a house that had recently been repossessed from her brother CONOR POPE, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Orla Mulvey paid just €76,000 for the five-bedroom detached house in Castlepollard, Co Westmeath. It had been built on her father’s land and was being sold by the financial institution which had secured the repossession order.Ahead of the auction she told the 75 people in the Radisson Blu hotel ballroom that she was trying to buy back the house for her family. It had an advised minimum value (AMV) of €70,000. When bidding started at €50,000 there were three interested parties but at €76,000 Ms Mulvey was the last one standing.She punched the air after posting the winning bid and said later that her whole family, and her father in particular, were delighted she had won. She was reluctant to go into details of her family’s financial arrangements or the mortgage originally taken out on the home. Similar properties in the area were selling for more than €250,000 at the height of the property bubble.It was a bright moment in an otherwise dull day and the choice of the Hall and Oates 1980s pop tune I Can’t Go for That as the music to launch the auction proved appropriate, with 15 of the 20 properties withdrawn after failing to attract much attention.Lot number one was a fully furnished one-bedroom apartment in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, which had an AMV of €20,000. Described as a “good little getaway” by auctioneer David Kehoe, it attracted an opening bid of just €10,000, inching up to €13,500 before it was withdrawn.A three-bedroom bungalow in Belturbet, Co Cavan, with a large garden with “superb views” of the Shannon-Erne waterway, had an AMV of €58,000 but the highest bid was €28,000 shy of that amount and it too was taken off the table.A pub and house in Athy, Co Kildare, valued at €1 million in 2007, was also withdrawn after bidding stopped at €150,000, some €40,000 off the AMV set by Merlin.Monkstown Snooker Hall was, Merlin said, valued at €1.25 million four years ago but was available for €250,000 yesterday. Mr Kehoe reminded potential buyers that the venue had an amusement licence and said “if you fancy putting in slot machines it could be ideal”.No one was willing to take the gamble, however, and the property was withdrawn at €200,000.

[MadMike]

Cool I winder how much the bank lost ?

[Wazza]

I might wander over and buy a town or two ....Or three .....

[Stock]

Irish construction slump hits five full years


New orders decreased at a solid rate during the month, according to the Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
Falling workloads led to a further reduction in staffing levels and firms cut their purchases at an accelerated pace.
The seasonally adjusted index is designed to track changes in total construction activity. The value for May was 46.3. Values below 50 signify a fall.
May’s figure represented a slower reduction than April’s 45.4, the pace of reduction was still solid, said Simon Barry, the chief economist Republic of Ireland at Ulster Bank. “The latest reading of the Ulster Bank Construction PMI shows that construction activity registered a further decline in May, meaning that the slump in the sector has now extended to a full five years. The pace of decline eased slightly last month, but at 46.3 the PMI remains well below the expansion-contraction threshold of 50. All three principal sub-sectors continue to experience contraction, with housing activity recording the sharpest pace of retrenchment for the second consecutive month. There was some easing in the rate of decline in civil engineering, where activity fell at its slowest pace in over four years. However, this sub-sector remains very much in contraction mode as does commercial activity where the pace of contraction accelerated to its fastest pace since last October.
“The wider construction sector remains bedevilled by a scarcity of new business and this was again a feature of the May survey results, with signs of stabilisation around the turn of the year giving way to renewed weakness in recent months. Order levels for new work fell for the fifth consecutive month, and the rate of decline picked up to its fastest pace in three months. In turn, the shortage of new business remains a negative influence on employment trends in the sector. Last week’s quarterly national household survey showed a 3,700 quarterly fall in construction employment in the first quarter: the more timely results from the April and May PMI surveys point to further job losses in the second quarter.”
The fastest reduction was seen in residential activity. Activity on housing projects fell more quickly than the other two monitored sectors in May, as had been the case in April. The weakest reduction was seen in commercial activity, while the rate of contraction in activity on civil engineering projects continued to slow from the eight-month record seen in February.
There were further reductions in new orders. Those panellists that recorded a decline in overall construction activity during the month mainly linked this to falling new business.
New orders at Irish constructors decreased for the fifth successive month. Where firms were able to secure new business, they reported that this was often dependent on prices being reduced.
Employment continues to fall, with declining workloads impacting negatively on both employment and purchasing activity. Staffing levels decreased for the sixty-first consecutive month, with the rate of job cuts unchanged from that registered in April. Input buying, meanwhile, fell at a marked and accelerated pace during the month. The reduction in purchasing activity was the fastest since September 2011.
Delivery times have lengthened at a sharper pace. Low stock levels at suppliers were behind a deterioration in vendor performance during May. Lead times have lengthened in each month since July 2011, and the latest deterioration was the strongest in six months.
Input prices continued to rise in May, extending the current sequence of inflation to 25 months. The latest increase in input costs was slightly faster than that seen in April. Where input prices rose, this was mainly linked to higher costs for fuel and other oil-related products.
However, sentiment improved in May. Irish construction businesses remained optimistic that activity will be higher in 12 months’ time than current levels, with sentiment improving from that registered in April. That said, positive expectations largely reflected the fact that a rise in activity is likely given the low levels currently being recorded.

[Stock]

The Irish construction sector contracted further in August as the declines in activity and new orders quickened over the month.



Businesses subsequently lowered their employment and purchasing activity, while sentiment dropped to the weakest since December 2010.
The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) – a seasonally adjusted index designed to track changes in total construction activity – posted 40.7 in August, down from 42.2 in the previous month. Figures below 50 show decline. The latest reading signalled a substantial reduction in activity that was the sharpest since September 2011.
Ulster Bank economist, Republic of Ireland John Fahey said: “The August reading of the Ulster Bank Construction PMI shows that the Irish construction sector continues to experience falling activity levels. The latest survey results indicate an acceleration in the pace of contraction, with the headline index of overall activity falling to 40.7 in August, the fastest pace of decline since September 2011. From a sectoral perspective, the weakness recorded in August was broad-based, with all three of the principal sub sectors experiencing declining activity levels. The sharpest contraction was registered in civil engineering activity, although activity levels in both housing and commercial activity also declined at a faster pace last month. Given the persistent falls in activity levels, the construction sector continues to shed jobs, albeit at a slightly slower pace in August.
“In terms of the outlook for the construction sector, near term prospects look gloomy, as the sector is weighed down by the lack of new business. The new orders index, which is regarded as an important lead indicator, posted its fastest pace of contraction since December 2009, suggesting a challenging outlook for the construction industry over the coming months.”
There was falling activity across all three monitored sectors. The sharpest decline in August was registered on civil engineering projects, where activity decreased at the fastest pace in six months. The slowest reduction was seen for commercial activity, although the fall in the sector was still marked.
The rate of contraction in new orders accelerated for the fifth successive month in August, and was the sharpest since December 2009. Weak demand in both domestic and foreign markets, as well as fragile confidence in the sector, were factors highlighted by panellists that recorded a fall in new orders.
Irish construction firms lowered their staffing levels in line with declining workloads. Employment has fallen in each month since May 2007, and the latest reduction was sharp.
Falling new business led to another reduction in purchasing activity. The rate of decline remained considerable, and was marginally quicker than the previous month. Input buying has decreased in each month throughout the past two years.
Although demand for inputs continued to decrease sharply, suppliers’ delivery times lengthened further during August. Respondents indicated that low stock levels at vendors had contributed to the deterioration in supplier performance. After falling in the previous month, input costs increased amid higher oil and fuel prices. However, the rate of inflation was slower than the long-run series average.
Business confidence deteriorated in August, and was the lowest since December 2010 as falling new orders weighed on sentiment. That said, constructors still anticipate a rise in activity over the next 12 months, amid hopes of improving economic conditions.

[ianoz]

That doesn't paint a very rosy picture .

[Stock]

Ireland’s bleak construction market sees one ray of light


Decline continues across Ireland’s construction industry as a whole, but the infrastructure sector is set to record positive growth between 2013 and 2017 according to a new report by Timetric.

The Irish construction industry recorded compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -28.25% between 2008 and 2012 but infrastructure construction is projected to record a CAGR of 1.03% between 2013 and 2017. This growth can primarily be attributed to various transport plans and government initiatives that are seeking to stimulate the economy.
Residential construction is the largest construction market in Ireland – accounting for 34.7% of total construction output in 2012 – but it was also one of the worst performing between 2008 and 2012, recording a CAGR of -29.37%.
Ireland’s commercial construction market recorded the most significant decline of all sectors: a CAGR of -32.93% between 2008 and 2012. It was closely followed by the industrial construction sectorm which recorded a CAGR of -31.36% between 2008 and 2012.
Although all sectors of Irish construction registered negative growth between 2008 and 2012, a low benchmark interest rate, various transport plans, and government initiatives to stimulate the economy are expected to encourage growth in the infrastructure sector between 2013 and 2017.

[Kimberly Access]

I hope Ireland gets its construction sector back on track in the next few years and the positive growth in the infrastructure keeps improving.