Property-focused start-ups decline

The number of new entrepreneurs hoping to spin cash out of the slowing property market has fallen, according to Bank of Ireland's business banking division.

The bank said about 15,400 new companies have been formed since the beginning of the year - some 200 firms more than had been created by the same point last year.

But the number of start-ups in the construction and civil engineering sector has dropped 20 per cent, while the number of real estate firms created has fallen 17 per cent.

However, despite the lower level of entrepreneurial interest in property, these categories remain the most popular for new start-ups. Real estate has overtaken the construction and civil engineering sector as the number one area of interest for budding businesses, with 1,505 new estate agents getting into the game compared to 1,822 by the same point last year.

Some 1,482 new construction and civil engineering firms have been created so far this year, compared to 1,877 in 2006.

There is also no shortage of consultants, with 716 new consultancy firms set up.

Dublin remains the top location for setting up a business, with 5,602 of the 15,381 start-ups established in the capital.

Bank of Ireland's chief economist Dan McLaughlin said the higher overall rate of new start-ups suggested that confidence in the medium-term outlook for the economy remained positive, despite the consensus view that economic growth will slow down in the near term.