Think The Housing Market is Bad in the U.S?

2012-01-24T12:56:00-05:00

If you think that the housing market is bad here, and are complaining about the diminishing value of your home/commercial property, take a gander across the pond at the Republic of Ireland, whose housing market declined an astonishing 16.7% in 2001. Ireland, the land of shamrocks, leprechauns, and widespread alcoholism is in an all out housing turmoil.

Dublin, Ireland's capitol and most populous city has witnessed a virtual housing price free-fall since 2007, with housing prices there declining 54% since their peak in 2007. Imagine taking out a loan to buy a house, only to witness your home and primary investment decline by more than half..

Time to buy an Irish House? You could probably pull the low-ball of the century.

This free-fall comes after an era of massive appreciation from 1997-2007, where Irish property values nearly quadrupled, creating a new record for property appreciation in Europe. To make thing worse, Ireland is experiencing widespread unemployment, crea...

The Peak of The Bubble

2012-01-19T15:27:00-05:00

For those of you familiar with the IconBrickell, Located in Miami, Florida, developed by the Related Group; I see it as a symbol of the development boom that swept across the United States, which halted in 2008 as a result of the economic and financial collapse. Construction on this bad boy began in 2006, and ended 2008 just before the shit hit the fan. The Icon, which features hotels, restaurants and condominiums was unable to return the investment.

Pretty Nice eh?

This truly was a melancholy symbol; if a luxury condo complex like that was unable to sell in one of the biggest luxury markets in the US (Miami), that's when you know things are bad. This wasn't good news for the Related group, as they had invested around $1bn in it, including $15mn for pillars that resemble the heads from easter island.

Maintenance costs alone on this building reach about $15mn a year.

Worth the $15mn?

Anyways, long story short, the banks who financed this op, Bank of...

Archinect - ProjectFinance

Think The Housing Market is Bad in the U.S?

The Peak of The Bubble