Property sector most popular for start-ups
Tuesday, 30 October 2007 11:17The property sector is now the most popular industry for new business start-ups, according to Bank of Ireland's latest Business Start-Up Barometer.
The barometer, which tracks the number of business start-ups in Ireland, says the real estate sector has overtaken the construction and civil engineering industries as the most popular.
2007 saw an increase of 5% in new businesses in the real estate sector with 1,505 new start-ups. Construction and civil engineering remains a close second with 1,482 companies formed this year. Consultancy saw 716 new businesses set up in the first ten months of the year.
Bank of Ireland says that a total of 15,381 new companies were established so far this year, up slightly on the 15,161 recorded the same time last year.
Dublin remains the location of choice for Irish entrepreneurs with 5,602 businesses locating in the county. This compares with 5,479 the same time last year. Cork has taken a higher share of new business this year with 1,274 companies while Galway remains third despite a 15% decrease in activity this year.
Research has also revealed that the average start-up investment for new businesses is €40,000 which is mainly self-funded or funded by family members.
'It is interesting to note that the level of new business start-ups is still running ahead of last year, suggesting that confidence in the medium term outlook is still running ahead of last year,' commented Dan McLaughlin, Group Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland.
He says this suggests that confidence in the medium term outlook for the economy remains positive in the business sector, despite the view that GDP growth will slow in the near term.
