First-time buyers are typically paying €88,000 more for a house now than they did five years ago, according to a new report by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), which also has interesting data on homebuyers age and earnings and how existing homeowners fare. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.
Eoin also runs through the latest home commencement figures, which look starkly better than at this time last year. Work has started on around 60,000 properties this year, compared to 32,800 last year.
Spanish shipbuilding firm Navantia has become the latest rescuer of the fabled Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast. In a deal securing 1,000 jobs and four H&W yards across the UK, the state-owned group is understood to have paid in the region of £70 million for the business that has seen previous owners go bust twice in the last five years, writes Seanín Graham.
Speaking of waterside development, London editor Mark Paul stops by London’s riverside Battersea Power Station, which is finally being redeveloped after many false starts. Cork-born Donagh O’Sullivan is the man who has made it happen and he talks Mark through a project that is just half-done 12 years after its current owners bought it. “There are probably another 10-15 years in the project,” O’Sullivan says.
Price of getting on the housing ladder racing ahead of earnings
Elf doors, carriage rides and boat cruises: Christmas in Ireland’s five-star hotels
Ireland has won the corporation tax game for now, but will that last?
Corkman leading €11bn development of Battersea Power Station in London: ‘We’ve created a place to live, work and play’
Back home, Kerry Group shareholders voted in favour of a sale of the listed company’s dairy processing division in two stages to its main shareholder, Kerry Co-op, in a deal worth a total of €500 million, writes Joe Brennan. Much of the money will come from the co-op’s shares in the business, most of which are separately being handed over to co-op members..
Efforts by the family of former Irish Nationwide Building Society boss Michael Fingleton to halt a civil trial alleging he negligently mismanaged the failed lender foundered in the Supreme Court, having previously failed to convince either the High Court or the Court of Appeal. The five judges said the case fell “considerably” short of the threshold that would convince the court it should be dismissed.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office on pension coverage once again give pause for thought. Fewer than three in 10 workers who will find themselves automatically signed up for a pension next September that will take 1.5 per cent of the gross salary every month whether they like it or not are even aware of what is coming. Fiona Keeley reports.
Speaking of uncertain futures, shares in titanium miner Kenmare took a knock as it conceded that an agreement extending a processing and exports accord in Mozambique, where its key Moma mine is based, will not be finalised before the existing 20-year deal expires this weekend. Joe Brennan has the details.
Vodafone Ireland says it has narrowed its pretax loss to €4.8 million in the year to the end of March last, as turnover increased 2.8 per cent to reach €1 billion. Laura Slattery writes that it comes as the company says it has made a “significant investment” to upgrade its network and reinvest in the business.
Gas Networks Ireland chief executive Cathal Marley will move to the same role at electricity grid operator, EirGrid next year, ending an eight-month search for a successor to Mark Foley that saw the Government approve a €50,000 salary boost for the job to attract candidates.
In his column, John FitzGerald takes a look at the history and evolution of corporate taxes before wondering whether Ireland can continue to outperform in this area under Trump, mark II.
Finally, Christmas and home comforts may be the standard festive pairings but for a seemingly growing cohort of Irish people, it’s a time to retreat – and what better way to reset the batteries after a busy lead-in than to luxuriate in one of Ireland’s five-star hotels? Ian Curran looks at what is on offer across the State.
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