Property market defies the pundits

PROPERTY buying is all about budgets - and Charlie McCreevy has kept the Irish property market afloat with his last two budget bites.

The year just ending defied the doomsayers expectations, those who said the market was going into freefall and that prices would slump.

House-building, already at record construction levels, came back on a high note, with sales outstripping building speed and low interest rates keeping the whole show on the road.