I read with interest yesterday that there have been fewer house builds completed in Ireland since 1970, 10,500 last year. At the height of the boom we were building 90,000 houses a year!

I have been urging my clients to hang onto their houses where they can and especially with the new debt relief provisions this should be easier. Why? Well you don’t need to be a celebrity economist to get your head around the basic rule of supply and demand. I believe that the market will not be able to catch up with the lack of supply when the banks start lending again.

t takes time to get your planning in place and to break ground. A few years ago we couldn’t imagine house prices not going up forever. Now we cant imagine them ever going up. Hang on to your house.

Shane Healy