Public and private sector pay gap shrinks

The pay gap between workers in the public and private sector has always been significant, especially in Ireland. This divide is not common in many other countries in the European Union, which is why Irish government officials and economists have been extremely diligent in tracking the changes over time. Although there is usually a difference, Ireland has in the past decade faced a 46pc inequality; this was at the peak. 

In general, the Irish public sector has proven to be paying more and growing quicker than the private sector. This is interesting, given that the public sector is owned and operated by or within the federal, county or local governments.

 The private sector is companies that have no governmental ties, and allow the privately owned establishments to set their own wages; some examples of this are corporations, both in not for profit and profit, and partnerships. 

The Central Statistics Office reported in 2018 that state workers on average earned around €947 a week, which at the end of the year would total just around €49,390. People doing similar jobs in …

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Renting vs. Buying

A current issue revolving around Irish news is whether to increase the supply of rental or property ownership. It is well known that there is a shortage in properties available, but just trying to produce as many properties as possible is not the solution. Careful review of the issue needs to take place by the government and necessary legislation would follow. Some factors to consider include; land zoning, shared ownership purchase models, tax breaks for EU nationals arriving for construction work, reduced CGT for empty sites, tax reduction for citizens downsizing, and help-to-buy schemes.

First time home buyers are having trouble purchasing homes due to the increasing purchase prices. It is universally agreed upon that more properties need to be available. According to an independent article, 2500 houses that were built in the first three months have not been sold yet. In addition, this is driving up decisions. That coupled with difficult mortgage banking is challenging middle- and lower-class citizens to find accommodation. These statements emphasize the lack of availability and ease for purchasing affordable housing.

Build-to-rent schemes have the …

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Dublin’s Housing Prices are Growing Faster than Income

A new report released by credit analysts from Moody’s states that Dublin house prices have grown approximately nine times the rate that employees’ wages have grown in the last six years. This is adding to the housing market difficulties causing many native Dubliners to either move or live on the streets. Many factors can be credited to the rising house prices including; the rise of multinational cooperation’s settling in Dublin coupled with the rapidly growing population. The Moody’s report concluded that Dublin’s population has grown by 21% since 2000 which, makes it the fasted growing city of all European capitals.

It ultimately comes down to the shortages of properties available in Dublin that are driving up the demand for housing, while the supplies stay consistent. Moody’s Investor service released a ranking for the European cities that its inhabitants can least afford to buy a home. Dublin was among the group of cities distinguished for being a hard and expensive city to find housing among many European countries. Additionally, the price to pay ratio for Dublin that determines how much money …

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TodayFM Last Word features Irish Mortgage Brokers and Joan Burton to discuss bank taxation

We took part in a conversation with Matt Cooper on The Last Word about bank taxation with Joan Burton from the Labour Party. We tried to make the point that short term thinking about bank taxation is a mistake, that we are better off getting the maximum amount of money back to the state rather than losing bank value in order to score a short term political win.

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Is the Housing Gap Increasing?

With an attempt to lift the housing market out of the current crisis it’s in, the Irish government is left to answer one very important question. Is the Help to Buy scheme even helping?

Or…is it worsening the gap of the home hunters who are looking for the ability to buy?

As what is already well known, house prices are soaring. Without the supply of housing increasing at any fast rate, this will continue to be the case.

Therefore, home prices are continuing to rise, much faster than incomes are rising, and the gap between available homes and affordable homes is continuing to worsen.

When looking at reports from CSO, the average wage in Ireland is €45,075 for a full-time employee. That number is, however, much lower as a median, where most of the working class clusters. The median is found at €28,500. A drastic difference and even more of a surprise when finding that, that means, nearly half the population is below that number.

This is where the Help to Buy scheme comes into play.

Introduced just earlier this …

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When Vulture Funds Buy Mortgages

As vulture funds have been seen as taking over the market, the next question is, what do we do next? What happens after a vulture fund takes over your mortgage?

These funds first entered the Irish market at the end of the financial crisis and since, have remained a consistent factor in the mortgage game. Though many years have now passed since they were first introduced, there is still much uncertainty that remains with what exactly these funds are.

Vulture funds essentially entail the many forms of private equity firms and pension funds that exist with the goal of investing across many asset classes such as debt. Debt often acting in the form of mortgage arrears.

The question many are wondering is why? Why are these vulture funds deciding to buy the mortgages that are in arrears?

Due to post-financial crisis events, there was an extremely high number of mortgages that were in arrears as a direct effect, and many that will be in long-term arrears as well.

Because banks are generally not willing to write down any debt of …

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Irish Housing Market Full of Problems

Problems have been arising with mortgage interest rates in Ireland for quite some time now.  As there has been a worsened housing market and much conflict has arisen from it, the uncertainty of many different aspects have come to arise.

Many banks have had to make competitive advances in the market just to stay relative and appealing to their customers. The housing market has simply become a game in Ireland.

Without constant changing rates, their appeal would diminish, in turn, causing a fall in their overall customer base. A rapid decline in business would quickly be seen.

Most recently, Ulster Bank announced more drastic cuts to their interest rates that would, in turn, also affect their fixed rate mortgage offerings. This was done as a way to stay competitive as many other primary banks for lending have been recently seen as doing similar things.

The Irish housing market is offering customers some of the highest variable rates accessible across the eurozone. Ireland’s average variable rate stands at 3.37% while the rest of the eurozone has an average of just 1.8%. …

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Foundations of a Strong Housing Market

With the Irish housing market remaining at such a loss, it is important that we recognize what the core foundations are that act as a basis for continuing growth. By recalling these foundations and working to improve them, there is a stronger potential to understanding the true issue with the overall crisis.

Last year, Ireland experienced the highest number of home construction since 2009. With 19,271 homes built to create a growth of 29%. Though an impressive improvement, this number still falls substantially below the goal number of newly constructed homes.

This increase, though not the goal, is, however, a good sign of progress and hope for the housing market to finally return to regular levels.

Some other marginal improvements that can be noted in the market currently are; housing commencements were seen to increase by ⅓, the volume of building activity is at a high, and 13,842 new dwelling units have been approved for construction. All in which represent some of the highest improvements since 2009.

Though there are many positive things happening in the housing market, what we …

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Intriguing Statistics of First-Time Buyers

Perfect Property has recently found success in finding the common budget of the average house hunter in Dublin.

While in such a crisis, this is information that has been found is essentially vital in understanding a piece to the puzzle of what keeps buyers from buying.

Of course, there are statistics on the shortage of homes compared to the increasing demand, a factor into understanding the crisis that is just as vital.

According to Perfect Property, a relatively new search engine, the average Dublin house hunter has a budget of €315,000 to purchase a home with.

A pretty substantial budget for any home buyer, however, we are still observing a vast amount of first-time buyers applying for the new state mortgage scheme, introduced just a few months prior.

A scheme that was expected to cover nearly 1,000 loans and last for an extended period of time is now lucky if it lasts the full year.

Of course, when looking in the Dublin area it can be expected that the budget for a home will …

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Borrowers Looking to Lower Existing Mortgages

Now, more than ever, it’s time that homeowners do whatever they can to lower their mortgages.

With the rise in European interest rates, it is expected that higher mortgages bills will be quick to follow.

Homeowners are beginning to get more and more comfortable as economic recovery since the recession has been tracked as going in such a positive way.

By overpaying on a mortgage the borrower will knock tens of thousands off of their mortgage easily. And they would dramatically cut back on the time it takes to finally become mortgage free.

According to Dowling financial, by an increase of 100 euro per monthly payment, the average mortgage would be paid off three years earlier and save nearly 12,826 euro in interest.

A small increase in payments leads to quite a substantial savings. Probably an effort worth it to most borrowers.

Those that should keep their guard up and remain mindful are those with a fixed rate mortgage.

Overpaying on fixed-rate mortgages could cause borrowers to be hit with an early redemption fee. A charge that could potentially be …

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