OUR HOUSE PRICES ARE RISING AT FASTEST RATE IN WORLD GLOBALLY - Ireland has had the fastest-rising property prices in the world this year, according to a new international study of global markets.
The Knight Frank Global House Price Index shows Ireland's 12-month price growth of 15% running at the fastest rate of all 54 countries surveyed, says the Irish Independent. Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's global head of research, said: "I wouldn't be too concerned for Ireland just yet, given that the country has rebounded and is making ground after one of the worst property crashes. There is an obvious return to confidence in the Irish economy overall and interest rates remain low. "However, these sort of increases are unsustainable in the long run and it is likely that Ireland's market will show some cooling going forward." Ireland tops the table ahead of Turkey (14%), Dubai / The United Arab Emirates (12.5%) and the United Kingdom (10.5%). The international report, which compares inflation rates from markets for the year to the end of the third quarter, also shows Ireland having the highest six-month increase at 13.5%. Our three-month increase is recorded at 6.2%. That works out at over 2% a month or more than €6,000 in four weeks on a €300,000 home. Ireland tops the property price inflation table alongside other countries in which there have been recent concerns about housing bubbles.
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PRIMARK TO TAKE OVER KARSTADT STORES IN GERMANY - Primark is poised to step up its colonisation of the German highstreet with reports that it will move into department stores vacated by ailing retailer Karstadt. The Dublin-based retailer, which trades in Ireland as Penneys, has indicated an interest in taking over the lease on a Karstadt store in Hamburg next summer, says the Irish Times. Karstadt employees are set to lose their jobs, have reported seeing Primark staff already taking measurements in the building. A Primark takeover is also rumoured for the Karstadt store in Stuttgart, with other stores likely to follow. “We assume that talks have reached a conclusion for a new tenant, possibly Primark,” said Michael Markowsky, shop steward with the Stuttgart Karstadt branch employing 230 people, to the Stuttgarter Nachrichten daily. Primark recently opened its first store in Stuttgart, in Germany’s southwest, but is reportedly keen to snap up the prime site on the city’s Königstrasse. Karstadt’s 17,000sqm store in Hamburg-Billstedt, meanwhile, is probably too large for the Irish retailer, making it likely the space will be shared with other retailers.
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LAYA PROFITS INCREASE 5% TO €5.25m - Pre-tax profits at the country’s second largest health insurer, Laya Healthcare, last year increased by 5% to €5.25m. New figures filed with the Companies Office show that Laya Healthcare Ltd - formerly Quinn Healthcare Ltd - last year enjoyed the profit increase after revenues went up by 16.5%, from €33.75m to €39.33m. The firm - which now has almost 500,000 subscribers - was the subject of a management buy-out in December 2011 with the support of an underwriter owned by reinsurance company Swiss Re, says the Irish Examiner. The business rebranded in May 2012 to become Laya Healthcare. Numbers employed by the firm last year increased from 348 to 405, with staff costs increasing from €15.1m to €20.2m. During the same period, pay for the firm’s seven directors nearly doubled, going from €785,000 to €1.36m; this was made up of €1.1m in emoluments, €120,779 in pension costs, and €105,000 in director fees. Laya recently opened an office in Dublin and the numbers employed by the firm now stand at 480.
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STRONG DOLLAR AND FALLING OIL PRICES BATTER EMERGING CURRENCIES - Emerging market currencies fell to a 14-year low against the dollar on Monday, hammered by investor appetite for the US currency and an oil price that has fallen to five-year lows. The JPMorgan Emerging Market Currency index, which measures the strength of a variety of developing country exchange rates against the dollar, fell to its lowest level since it was created in 2000, reports the Financial Times. The stronger dollar put further pressure on the price of Brent crude, which dropped 4% on Monday to just over $66 a barrel, heaping further pain on energy companies and oil-producing countries. Oil has fallen 40% since the start of the year. Emerging markets have been hit by the dollar’s rise, weaker exports due to slower growth in China, and lower commodity prices which have hurt natural resource exporters like Russia, Nigeria and Mexico. Russia, already struggling to cope with western sanctions over its involvement in Ukraine, recently suffered the worst one day fall in the rouble since the 1998 financial crisis. Nigeria’s naira fell to a record low of 187 to the US dollar earlier this month. But even big oil-consuming nations that should benefit from cheaper crude - such as Turkey and South Africa - have been affected.
