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| August 2010
SCS WELCOMES SETTING UP OF PROPERTY PRICE DATABASE
BUT SAYS A DATABASE MUST INCLUDE ALL COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Tuesday 10th August. The Society of Chartered Surveyors has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, that a property price database is to be established.
The SCS has long called for such a property price database to be established and for reform of the Data Protection Act to create much needed transparency in the property market.
The Society also welcomed the fact that the database will cover both residential and commercial property although it raised concerns that the database will not cover the whole spectrum of the commercial property market.
The President of the SCS, Peter Stapleton said the Society, as the largest association for property professionals in Ireland was looking forward to working closely with the relevant government departments on this initiative.
‘The SCS is very keen to ensure this database achieves its stated purpose and is happy to offer any help it can in that regard. For this register to be fully effective it is vital that the legislation includes the commercial market in full and this needs to be clarified. This is because the commercial sector’s need of a register is even greater than that of the residential market’ Stapleton said.
He also said he hoped the new authority would be adequately resourced. ‘We would hope this new body will be able to draw on the expertise of our members and that they will have a key role to play in the overseeing body of the database’ Stapleton concluded.
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SURVEYORS COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SURVEY SHOWS POSITIVE TREND FOR OFFICE AND RETAIL MARKET
HALF OF RESPONDENTS BELIEVE SOFTENING OF PRIME YIELDS FOR THESE SECTORS HAS HALTED
Thursday 12th August 2010. There has been a modest increase in the level of transactions and enquiries in the office and retail sectors according to the latest commercial property survey by the Society of Chartered Surveyors.
While welcoming the move into positive territory in these two sectors the SCS noted that the volumes are low compared to historic averages and overall the commercial property market remains weak.
While investor demand remains strong for prime retail units, the sentiment for secondary retail
continues to be weak. Respondents to the survey believe that the growth in enquiries will continue into the third quarter, but they expect retail rents to fall further.
The survey shows that the volume of vacant office stock is continuing to rise and as a result the value of inducements is set to increase in tandem with a reduction in lease lengths.
The industrial sector is the weakest part of the commercial property market with transactions and enquiries for industrial units falling for a second quarter while vacancy has risen for two consecutive quarters.
Respondents said they expected the volume of enquiries to shrink into the next quarter albeit at a lower rate of decline while rents are forecast to decline further.
In relation to development land, over half of all respondents said they had no enquiries in Q 2 while a similar number undertook no transactions in this sector. The availability of unsold land has continued to grow and one third of respondents do not expect to make any transactions in Q3.
Commenting on the results, the Chair of the SCS General Practice Division, Dr. Clare Eriksson said it is heartening to see an increased volume of transactions and enquiries in the office and retail sectors. While the increase is still fragile, over half of the respondents to this survey believe the softening of prime yields for these sectors has halted and that is a very positive development.
Full details of the SCS Quarterly Commercial Property Review Q2 2010 are available at www.scs.ie..
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Report of the Working Group on Transparency in Commercial Rent Reviews 17-Aug-2010
The Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern TD, has today published the Report of the Working Group on Transparency in Commercial Rent Reviews.
The Minister said the Report contains two key recommendations:
(i) establishment of a public database containing relevant details of letting agreements and rent reviews in the commercial property market, and
(ii) acceptance on an industry-wide basis of a Rent Review Arbitration Code which has been drawn up by the Group and which is intended to provide a uniform procedure for the governance of rent review arbitrations in the commercial property market.
Speaking on publication, Minister Ahern said: "When I established the Working Group I gave it very tight terms of reference aimed at developing practical solutions to some of the problems which confront the commercial property market and the retail sector in particular. I would like to commend the Group for the efforts they have made to address the relevant issues."
"The recommendations proposed are sensible ones. I am happy to endorse them and I look forward to progressing them as quickly as possible. Their implementation will, of course, require the cooperation of all relevant stakeholders and I fully expect that the necessary cooperation will be forthcoming." |
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