IAVI SAYS HOUSING MARKET 'CLOSE TO BOTTOM' - A property survey has been published by the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute. It shows a 20% fall in house price values last year.
Aine Myler, who is president of the institute, said the survey reflected IAVI expectations that house values would fall by up to 50% from peak levels, and the market was 'pretty much there'.
She said that inquiries and activity levels among its members had picked up, but there would not be a big increase in housing transactions until economic confidence returned.
Ms Myler said if the market was not at the bottom, it was 'fairly close', though it would be a Dublin-based recovery to begin with. But she warned that demand for apartments would remain 'extremely limited' due to over-supply.
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IRISH FIRM 'LISTENS FOR OIL' IN US - US Oil & Gas, a Dublin-based oil and gas exploration company, will be admitted to London's Plus Market exchange tomorrow.
Its chief executive Brian McDonald said his company was focused on Nevada in the US. He said the area had been largely ignored because it had a basin geology and was filled with volcanic debris. This meant that ordinary seismic tests produced only white noise.
Mr McDonald said US Oil & Gas has turned to passive seismic surveying, a technology which listens for oil, which has a natural frequency of 2.4 hertz in the earth.
He said the company was at the end of a three-year programme and would announce the results of its surveying by the end of January.
Oil prices were below $80 a barrel in Asian trading, but Mr McDonald said he expected prices to go to $120 due to strong demand from countries such as China and Brazil.
