Only 11,000 new housing completions are expected this year — as housing demand continues to outstrip supply.

The takeaway food market contributes more than €1bn per annum to the Irish economy; ranking it alongside the likes of the motor sales, road freight and mobile technology services sectors in terms of economic importance, new research shows.

New housing starts have again disappointed with fewer than 1,800 units having been started in the last three months of last year, according to business group Property Industry Ireland.

As the festive season draws to a close, I am reminded of a recent interview on Morning Ireland with Mike Allen, director of advocacy at Focus Ireland.

Dublin benefitting from the significant economic upturn despite increasing pressure in the area of housing supply, a new report has found.

Recent policy initiatives and market recovery should allow for an air of “modest optimism” around the prospects for sustained SME sector growth, a report suggests.

A report on rent stability in the private sector has warned that the introduction of rent regulations in Ireland would reduce supply in the market, increase black market activity, and have a negative impact on the very people the measures would attempt to assist.

The country’s two-speed property price recovery has become a three-speed one, with a number of counties joining Dublin’s turnaround as others continue to suffer.

The recovery of Dublin property prices continues to far outstrip the rest of the country, with homes in the capital now selling for an average of up to 30% higher than elsewhere, two separate reports on first-quarter trends show.

The weak supply of new houses in the Dublin region will be one of the main challenges facing the property market next year, it was claimed.

House prices in Dublin are soaring and are almost a third above the national average, with the gap expected to widen before the end of 2014.

At long last, we can detect positivity in the construction sector following a collapse that first took hold back in 2007.

The state-owned German development bank KfW is to contribute funding to the planned Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, part of the remit of which will be to improve funding availability to domestic SMEs.

Almost 220 jobs are to be created by entrepreneurial start-ups over the next 12 months.

A new report shows the average asking price for a three-bed semi-detached house in Dublin is now 26% above the national average.

Nearly 12% of Ireland’s commercial premises are lying vacant, with that number up by 0.5% quarter on quarter, according to latest findings.

A two-tier property market in Ireland is emerging, with house prices rising or stabilising in Dublin but continuing to drop in cities and towns outside of the capital.

House prices fell by nearly 3% in the last three months of 2012, bringing last year’s overall drop to 14.8%.

The construction industry is half the size it should be for an economy the size of Ireland, according to a report by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.

House prices have fallen by around 50% since the peak of the housing boom, two reports revealed today.

A MORTGAGE today will cost a first-time buyer couple half of what it cost five years ago.

THE crisis in the construction industry is far from over and with output set to decline to €8.9 billion in 2011 — down from its peak of €38bn achieved in 2007.

THE number of jobs lost in the construction industry is set to exceed 320,000 by the end of 2011, Construction Industry Federation (CIF) director general Tom Parlon estimates.

House prices have plunged almost 40% since the peak of the boom, two property reports revealed today.

House prices nationally are back to 2002 levels, according to the latest figures from MyHome.ie.

House prices have fallen a third since the peak, two property reports revealed today.

THERE will be no recovery in the housing market, which has seen prices plunge by almost 50% from their peak, until the economy shows signs of improvement, according to experts.

AS many as one-in-five houses in Ireland could be empty, almost three times the European average, new research suggests.

The Government must continue to prioritise the teaching of maths and the physical sciences in secondary schools, Engineers Ireland director general John Power said today.

FIGURES from the Department of the Environment show housing completions stayed at record lows following the boom years.

An outspoken economist in charge of slashing public spending is to speak about the recession at this weekend’s Green Party convention.

House prices will continue to fall significantly over the coming year, according to an assessment conducted for the Department of the Environment.

AT LEAST 85,000 construction jobs will be lost by next year from the height of the building boom in 2006.

THE cabinet reached agreement yesterday on the bulk of what is expected to be the harshest budget since the late 1980s.

Regional airports may have to look to international destinations to bring in some public service obligation funding, finds Seán McCárthaigh.

IRELAND has as many as 500 tycoons who together are worth €67 billion — and most are self-made, a report has revealed.

THE European Commission sharply reduced its growth forecast for this year as the cool winds of the slowing global economy affects both the EU and eurozone areas.

A LEADING economist has warned that “uncertainty” over the possible development of an animal byproducts processing plant in south Tipperary could prompt racehorse owners to move their horses away from the Coolmore-owned Ballydoyle facility.

FIRST-TIME home buyers are spending less of their monthly salary on mortgages in the first firm indication that house price affordability is improving.

Affordability has remained stable for the average first-time buyer working couple in Ireland throughout 2007, according to the latest EBS/DKM Affordability Index, published by Irish Property Buyer magazine.