Galway Bay FM News Archives
NAMA move to put hundreds of city houses on the market
Date Published: 23-May-2011
BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM
The National Asset Management Agency is planning to roll out a pilot scheme in Galway City later this year where it will offer mortgages on ‘seized’ housing stock, and protect buyers against negative equity.
It could potentially release hundreds of apartments and starter homes in the city onto the market – properties which had been held onto by developers in completed schemes. However, there are concerns the scheme could create a ‘sub-floor’ for property values.
NAMA is in ongoing talks with AIB and Bank of Ireland to provide mortgages for properties in Galway which have been ‘taken over’ by the bank, and where receivers have been appointed.
The so-called ‘toxic bank’ will offer to protect homebuyers against drops up to 20% in the value of their property.
According to the assets agency, the pilot scheme – which will also be rolled out in Dublin, Cork and Limerick – will be rolled out in the autumn and will require buyers to put down a 10% deposit.
Under the scheme, the properties will be offered for sale by NAMA or by developers whose loans have been transferred to the agency.
“What will happen is the market will adjust by whatever NAMA is prepared to insure by. What they’re trying to do is create a floor for the market, but this will create a sub-floor, where values are automatically at 80%.
“What I would rather see is the floor created by an active lending market within the banking sector, rather than NAMA seeking to prop it up, when they will actually achieve an opposite effect,” Alan Maxwell of Property Partners Maxwell, Heaslip & Leonard told the Sentinel.
The estate agent said the scheme would serve only as ‘market interference’ and compared it to the fluctuations caused by the Bacon Report in 1998, which recommended the abolition of tax breaks for residential property investors.
He added that while NAMA had taken control of development land in Galway, there are also potentially hundreds of apartments and first-time buyer properties which would have been held onto by developers as investments, as well as properties in incomplete developments.
Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel
Date Published: 07-May-2013
Galway has a population of young people which is more than twice the national average.
According to information gathered by the Central Statistics Office, Galway’s population of 20 to 24 year olds is more than twice the national average.
The number of 25-34 year olds in Galway is also more than the norm nationally, with the two main colleges thought to be the main reason.
However immigration in Galway is much higher than in other areas at 19.4 percent, compared to the national average of 12 percent.
Date Published: 07-May-2013
A city councillor is encouraging people to donate goods directly to charity shops.
It follows allegations of thefts from clothes banks in Galway and across the country in recent months.
However, cameras are in place at some clothes banks and surveillance is carried out by local authorities.
Speaking on Galway Talks, Councillor Neil McNeilis said the problem of theft from clothes banks is widespread.
Date Published: 07-May-2013
A park ‘n’ ride scheme from Carnmore into Galway city could become a permanent service if there is public demand.
That’s according to the Chief Executive of Galway Chamber of Commerce, Michael Coyle.
The pilot scheme will begin at 7.20 next Monday morning, May 13th.
Motorists will be able to park cars at the airport carpark in Carnmore and avail of a bus transfer to Forster Street in the city.
Buses will depart every 20 minutes at peak times and every 30 minutes at offpeak times throughout the day, at a cost of 2 euro per journey.
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