Covid-19’s impact on mortgages

The covid-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on all areas of the financial world, including banks, loans, and mortgages. Mortgage arrears, or payments failed to be made by their original specified due date, had been consistently falling every year since 2013. However, Fitch predicts that arrears of at least 90 days will constitute about 14-16% of Irish home loans this year, their highest rate since the financial crisis.

Additionally, the pandemic has led to widespread payment breaks for mortgages in Ireland. Payment breaks involve the deferring of repayment of a loan to a later date; they do not change, however, reduce the total amount to be paid. In March of last year, the major banks in Ireland agreed to industry-wide payment breaks for those facing financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. This was done out of consideration for borrowers’ situations and lenders’ own desire to avoid high default rates. Ultimately, by May 2020, one in nine owner-occupier mortgage payments was on such a break.

Though this measure was taken of the industry’s own volition, soon after, the …

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What you need when applying for a mortgage

Before applying for a mortgage, one should be sure they have all the necessary documentation. Typically, if one goes through a broker or chooses to go directly to a lender/bank, guidance will be provided on all the necessary paperwork and how to complete it. However, it can save applicants valuable time to try and get pre-approved by either lenders or brokers. In this case, they would likely need to take some initiative.

Documents required for approval and preapproval can vary depending upon the borrower and lender.

All borrowers will likely need:

Proof of ID Proof of Address Personal Public Service Number Proof of Income Financial Statements

Proof of identity can include things like a valid Irish driver’s license or passport. For proof of address, one might consider a utility bill, a tenancy or lease agreement, or government-issued documents that include said address.

Personal Public Service Numbers (PPSN) are issued by the Department of Social Protection (DSP). Non-residents can obtain a PPSN by applying for one with the DSP. Such an applicant will also need to provide proof of …

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Dublin Rent prices on office apartments have fallen since the beginning of the pandemic

In the past year, we’ve seen the Dublin office market prices in rent fall to the lowest they’ve been since 2016. The COVID pandemic has caused the economy to slow to a standstill, and with that, the majority of such companies are postponing their long term executive decisions due to the uncertainty the pandemic has brought about. Office rents have fallen from the high of €65 per square foot down to €59 near the end of 2020.

Even so, there have been signs of economic recovery near the end of the last quarter of 2020. This is expected to grow and continue as the vaccinations for the virus begin to become publicly accessible to the general public. The vacancy rate in the Dublin offices ended at around 9.5% due to reduced demand and office hours during the pandemic. This grey space comes into the market and accounts for nearly 25% of the available office space in the capital. These spaces are continuing to compete with traditional landlords as they offer more flexible terms of lend to their customers. There have …

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Homes sales reaching an all-time high

In the last three months of 2020, the Irish market has experienced the so-called “strongest quarter of home sales in the last decade”. While the official transition figures have not yet been published, many advisors state that this past quarter has been the largest jump in sales for many years. In the number of house sales last year from January until September, there was nearly 29,100 number of house sales. Which was down 25% from the previous year. But there is an estimated amount of 18,000-20,000 number of house sales just in the final quarter.

This sudden jump in the number of sales is largely attributed to the number of prospective buyers that were locked out of the market in the first lockdown, and the market reopening at the final quarter had led to a frenzy of rushed activity as people once again were able to utilize their interests in the market. Since people were also afraid of the potential of having another lockdown occur, they were more rushed to make a decision and in that sense, the entire process …

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Who is buying houses in Ireland for cash? A look at cash buyers in 2021

With fewer homes entering the housing market, and a large amount of demand that is being unmet due to that, the Irish government incentives like “Help to Buy” have only just started to affect rising forecasted housing prices in 2021. But even so, there has been little effect in the market by people that are known as “cash buyers”.

Cash Buyers may not be the people that first come to mind. They’re not exactly the people that pay upfront the entire mortgage, because let’s be realistic, who has ever done that? Cash buyers are investors, and their acquisitions are mostly funded by debt in terms of purchasing power. This is where they get the name “cash buyers” from. Despite the pandemic in 2020, these cash buyers were still highly active in the market. Statistics show that over 1.75 billion euro were invested by investors from European property firms like the LRC. While, it was still down from 2019 when it was pre-pandemic times, where the overall investment was 2.5 billion euro, there was still a significant amount of money being …

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GameStop stock and what’s happening with it

What happened this past week with GameStop’s stock was unprecedented. And markets show that the three largest shareholders in GameStop’s stock have made nearly 2 billion dollars (1.65 billion euro) from the company’s stock rising this past week. The stock hit its high this past Wednesday at $354.83 and rose again on Thursday.

As the largest stockholder of GameStop, Mr Cohen’s now worth a staggering 1.4 billion dollars. In the last two weeks, with the rising of the stock, we calculated his net worth to increase an aver of around 90 million dollars a day. The GameStop Stock has increased more than 1,550% this year.

This sudden increase in the stock has never been seen before. Sure, we saw Tesla grow a hundred times over in the past year, but never has a stock increased so fast continuously in the timespan of a matter of days. On the social media platform Reddit, many small investors have started boasting about their gains from beating Wall Street and the amount of revenue they were able to generate if they caught wind of …

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Is Renting really a bad thing?

Should you rent or should own it? This may be a controversial topic but let us clear up the misunderstandings and go over the facts.

Some may think, “Isn’t renting just throwing money away in the trash while buying a home you are putting it towards something you will own in the future?” Yes, it is but not for a long time. Many individuals pay their mortgages from 5 years upwards to 20 years or more! The first 5 to 10 months of mortgage mostly interest, meaning you are still throwing that money out the window as well. If you are tight on money already, attempting to own your first home might not be the right time for you. It may be great for some, but it could be a potential burden for others.

Although homes generally appreciate there is always a risk of depreciation due to external factors, like companies moving out of the city causing many residents to move away. If the house …

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Ireland Selling Fewer Homes during COVID

Insight of the COVID pandemic hitting global markets. The sharp effect on the Irish economy and society were evident in the housing industry, where the number of transactions sharply decreased, even though the house prices across the country remained relatively unchanged.

In the most recent GeoView Residential Buildings Report, it shows that in the last 12 months, a total number of 35,542 properties were sold and property transactions took place. This shows nearly a 22% decrease in the number compared to the number of transactions in 2019, the year before the shutdown. This trend was reflected in nearly every county, with Dublin having the largest number of decreases at nearly 4000. Within the number of transactions that were made in the past year, only 20% of the properties were newly built properties, which is slightly above the amount in the previous year. This reflects the trend seen across the country of current homeowners reluctant to keep their properties on the market as the pandemic hit due to the uncertainty of housing prices and whether the properties would be able to …

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House Buying in Ireland

Buying a new home or property is possibly one of the most daunting tasks out there, especially for first-time buyers or international buyers. There are many regulations to keep in mind, and here is just a small list of actions to take that will make this process so much easier.

1: Builder: Contact a local builder and request them to look at the prospective property. They will be able to tell you how much additional work needs to be done for the property, and generally advise the state of the property.

2: Electrician Check: If you have the contact, call in a favor from an electrician to check the wires for issues and maintenance.

3: Structural survey: This will be an investment, and you’ll be surprised at the number of faults this check can find within a property, no matter how pretty the house may look from outside. The usual cost is around €1.5k, but worth it in the long run, if you are to meet large issues.

4: Deposit: Buying international means that you may have to put in …

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Economic Results of the New US President

The swearing-in of the new US President; Joe Biden, has caused many discrepancies in the world stock market and the value of the dollar this past Thursday. Stock prices are skyrocketed, and the dollar fell as investors began to bet major stimulus. Surprisingly, Asian stocks have reached all-time highs overnight and are predicted to keep rising. MSCI’s global index shows that nearly 50 countries added 0.3% to the 76% rally since the market crash due to COVID last March.

It has been reported that Republicans in the US Congress have stated they will cooperate with the Biden administration in the US’s top priority $1.9 trillion fiscal-stimulus plan to get the economy up and running. There are still some oppositions against the plan, but the final amount is expected to fall at least 5% of the US gross domestic product. Chief economist at BNY Mellon investment management; Shamik Dhar states that the benefit of a larger stimulus is viewed as outweighing the negative impacts of regulation and taxes. He supports this fiscal-stimulus plan and expects the monetary policy to remain largely …

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