Facts and Figures
- Up to 12.6% of the Irish workforce was employed by the construction industry.
- Up to 9.4% of Irish GNP was dependent on construction. Of this new residential housing construction made up nearly 7% of GNP.
- The P/E ratio (Total Price divided by annual earnings) for private housing reached an all time high when, in March 2006, a Davy Stockbrokers report suggested that for prosperous Dublin suburbs the ratio could be approaching 100 times. Davy stated that these ratios can only be justified if investors were extremely bullish about rental growth. Given the plentiful supply of rental properties in these areas however, Davy suggested that it would be an adjustment in property prices, rather than rents, that would eventually bring valuations down to more realistic levels.
- A very high proportion of new houses in Ireland remain unoccupied.
- Although housing indicators like price to income ratio and rental yields were worse in many other countries, high price per square meter and unsustainable Irish economy indicated a bubble.
Read more about this topic: Irish Property Bubble
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