At a local level the major talking points through out 2007 has been the dominance of the retail sector which has seen three substantial new developments open at the latter end of 2007.    In Castlebar local developer Mountain View Securities completed the last phase of the Hopkins Road development with a substantial retail development now home to Homebase, Next and Aldi.   This completes the Hopkins Road development which has one of the best retail line ups in provincial Ireland.    It would appear by the volume of shoppers in the lead up to the Christmas shopping period that the development has been a huge success.  

In Ballina the department store Pennys opened one of their largest provincial stores in Ireland on Pearse Street which again would appear to be warmly welcomed by the people of Ballina who it might be said are badly served within the retail sector.   We would expect to see over the coming couple of years a substantial new retail development taking shape within Ballina.

In Claremorris Westport Property & Construction recently completed the first major phase of the Silver Bridge Development which is a very substantial retail led development occupying a strategic site close to the town centre.    The development is anchored by Tesco who opened for trade on the 3^rd of December.    Tesco have also opened their first filling station in the West of Ireland and again early indications are that they are enjoying exceptional trade.    Included in the development is an internal Mall which will include a variety of retailers including a butchers, jewellers and a mobile phone store.     Elsewhere on the site work is ongoing on the first phase of the residential element which will include almost 60 residential units comprising a mixture of apartments and town houses.    Laterally the last phase of the development will include a substantial hotel and office complex.

In Westport the first phase of the Westpoint development opened recently and this is being anchored again by Tesco.    The development comprises circa. 40,000 square foot Tesco supermarket together with 25,000 of additional retail space of which a number of the units have been reserved and are likely to open in the first quarter of 2008.    These include Boots Pharmacy Group, Lifestyle Sports, Car Phone Warehouse & Esquires Coffee Houses.    Development also includes 10,000 sq. ft. of offices some of which have now been reserved, a crèche and a medical centre both of which have been reserved and are likely to open in the next number of months.    In addition Westpoint also includes a very substantial residential element comprising a mixture of high quality 1, 2, & bedroomed apartments and duplex apartments.    Despite the slowing in the market place sales of the development have been good and the second phase of the development will be launched in 2008.

In conclusion the consumers of County Mayo have rarely ever been better served with quality retail offering with increasingly many of the leading national and international retailers now have a presence within County Mayo.

Predicting what might be in store for the property sector  in 2008 is an immensely difficult job.    Consumer confidence which has been seriously dented by a number of consecutive interest rate hikes and in particular the recent international financial chaos brought about principally by the sub-prime market in the U.S., continues to loom over us.     The fall out of the sub-prime has effectively led to an international credit crunch where raising loans or debt has become increasingly difficult.     To help counter this the ECB recently injected up to 350 billion in to the financial markets to help elevate the problems of financial lending and borrowing.

The recent overhaul of the antiquated and unfair stamp duty system by Brian Cowen in our most recent Budget is a very welcome addition and will I believe help to restore some confidence in the residential sector.    There are now very substantial savings particularly at the top end of the market for buyers of second hand homes and this is welcome although in my opinion it came six months too late.     I believe the Government could have acted sooner when the market was very clearly in need of reform far earlier in the year.

Also of critical importance going forward will be a clear signal from the ECB  that the recent interest rate hikes have now come to an end.   However the ECB at the end of 2007 finds itself in a particularly difficult position.    With sluggish economic growth in most of Europe this would be an ideal time to reduce interest rates.   Unfortunately however there are severe inflationary pressures which may mean that the best we can hope for is that the current base rate of 4% is maintained in the short term.   

In conclusion 2007 has been a difficult year in the residential property markets and those of us in the profession are anticipating that 2008 may be challenging.   However, the recent difficulties within the sector have to be put in context.     The residential markets have grown conservately by 300% in an incredible 10 year boom and this has to borne in mind when we look at the present difficulties.    Like any other market the property market is cyclical and I believe what we are experiencing is a correction as opposed to a major down turn. Future performance of the residential market will be underpinned by a number of factors which include strong domestic economic growth and robust population increases which are now the highest in Europe     We would hope to see activity levels improve in the spring market principally due to restored confidence, volume of availability in the market place and as a result of the recent stamp duty reform.   

For purchasers, 2008 will present numerous opportunities to find their ideal home as there has rarely ever been more new and second hand stock available within County Mayo and I believe for the canny buyer there may be good value to be had.

By Gerard O’Toole – Director Tuohy O’Toole. Gerard@tot.ie