The outlook for Ireland's property market is being described as "cautiously optimistic" by auctioneers today.

The author of the Bord Snip report Colm McCarthy will address the annual conference of the Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute (IAVI) today.

A NATIONWIDE review of the Irish property market among IAVI member auctioneers shows the Dublin market leading the league of major value collapses.

HOMEOWNERS are facing a year of interest rate hikes and plunging house prices as banks look to claw back losses.

NOTHING encapsulates the decade ending like the Raheen roller-coaster, the Dell debacle.

RELIEFS for the tens of thousands of home owners now sunk in negative equity have been welcomed as “a surprise, but really, really good news.”

ONE of the world’s senior experts in HIV vaccine research said it was vital that complacency over the virus does not take hold after new figures showed a 20% rise in HIV cases in one Dublin hospital.

Landlord representatives today slammed a new ban on upward-only commercial rent reviews as short-sighted and damaging to the economy.

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley is inviting comments on amendments to Part M of the Building Regulations Act 1997, due to come into operation in July 2010.

A MAJOR auctioneering body has expressed concerns about the possible exclusion of Irish property valuers from the State’s new toxic debt agency.

The Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute has expressed concern about speculation that a property tax may be introduced in next week's emergency Budget.

LOWER interest rates and increased affordability in the market were the positives in the recently published Irish Auctioneer and Valuers Institute property survey.

IRELAND’s discredited banks still hold a few keys to recovery in the housing market — and one is for them to agree settlement figures for those homeowners trapped in a negative equity bind.

PRICES of non-residential farms under 100 acres fell to an average of €16,394 per acre in Munster in 2008 — down from €21,417 in 2007, a drop of 23%.

THE troubled property and construction sectors were neither rocked nor shocked by the measures announced in Budget 2009.

THE governing body of auctioneers has denied any knowledge of its members sharing confidential information with mortgage brokers in order to inflate property prices.

A LEADING Government think-tank has recommended the introduction of a property tax to replace stamp duty as a measure to counteract a major slowdown in the housing market.

The Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute (IAVI) has reached agreement with the National Consumer Agency to refrain from publishing any sale figures other than the exact sale price achieved for any property.

THE consumer watchdog yesterday gave estate agents 48 hours to agree to publish only accurate prices for homes they have sold or face prosecution.

The Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute, which represents about 2,000 qualified auctioneers, has called on the Government to fast-track the promised Property Services Regulatory Authority Bill, first introduced in 2006.

The President of the Irish Auctioneers and Values Institute has warned that people should be careful when choosing an estate agent.

PRICES paid for house sites plunged dramatically last year, with Dublin prices falling by up to 19% while plots in the rest of the country dropped by as much as 15%.

Regulation in the property market is urgently needed to stop “cowboys” ripping off home buyers, it was claimed today.

A property developer concerned about a dip in the housing market is being forced to give away free cars to sell houses.

UNCERTAINTY over the state of the property market intensified yesterday as falling demand for homes led to a record 61% slump in the number of new houses being built.

ONLINE property company Funda Ireland have announced that it has ceased operations.

The Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute has warmly welcomed the Government’s decision to eliminate the Stamp Duty paid by first time buyers through the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2007.

FARMLAND has risen in value by over 25% nationally in a single year, according to the annual property survey of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI).

HOUSEHUNTERS will have to check out two tags when searching for that dream property from today — the first is the price, the second is the house’s energy rating.

ESTATE agents traditionally top the list of despised professions, up there with car dealers, trade union officials and, erm, journalists.

UNEXPECTED tax bills are hitting farmers who fall foul of hidden anomalies in the taxation of property deals, warned John Dawson, President of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute, at the Ploughing Championships.

A property survey from the Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute (IAVI) shows that price increases in many sectors of the housing market were higher than expected in 2005.

YOUR front page report on the new regulatory authority for auctioneers and estate agents was misleading (Irish Examiner, October 19).

THE Government has agreed to clamp down on rogue auctioneering practices through a new industry watchdog with extensive powers of investigation and sanction.

ESTATE agents will have to prove they are competent at their job before being allowed to practice.

The global push to develop an Aids vaccine was boosted today by the first alliance between a major drug-maker and the non-profit sector to tackle the disease.

By Mary Dundon Political Reporter

The Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute has predicted that house prices in Ireland will continue to increase at levels well above the rate of inflation this year.

HOUSE price inflation will be higher than expected this year with revised housing inflation forecast at 7%.

THE legal process of buying a house will be speeded-up and made cheaper when a new proposal to computerise the system being proposed today comes on stream.

CONFIRMATION was still awaited last night as to whether the Revenue Commissioners acted within their powers when they ‘blitzed’ estate agents’ offices and took away lists of clients who had purchased properties overseas.

FINDING somebody to take responsibility for adding rocket fuel to house prices is even more difficult than locating a reasonably priced home.