Uncategorized

Oil prices rose for a fifth consecutive session today, extending gains from last week’s more than 3% rise, as US. recession fears eased while geopolitical tensions in the Middle East supported prices. Brent crude futures climbed 28 cents, or 0.4%, to $79.94 a barrel by 0635 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose…

There are renewed signs of momentum in the construction sector, the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index from BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland indicates. Although activity in the sector registered at just below the 50 break-even point separating expansion from contraction in the month of July, there were encouraging signs in the report. The survey captured a…

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has said the higher VAT rate for hospitality will remain, despite claims by the Restaurants Association of Ireland that hundreds of businesses are closing as a result. Paschal Donohoe said the lower 9% VAT rate, reintroduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, was only ever meant to be temporary. “I…

Strong demand for cars helped drive volumes in the personal loans market during the first three months of the year. New data released by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland shows 16,089 car loans valued at €208m were approved over the quarter, an increase of 6.1% in volume and 10.7% in value. That drove the…

One third of companies surveyed in the latest Construction Industry Federation’s Construction Outlook Survey reported an annual increase in turnover during the second quarter of 2024. 30% of companies also reported a year-on-year increase in the total number of people they employed in the same period, with 26% expecting to employ more staff in the…

The number of private registered landlords renting homes to tenants in Ireland rose by almost 7% to 103,035 between the middle of last year and March of this year. New data also shows that the proportion of private tenancies associated with small landlords with just one tenancy remained roughly static across the same timeframe, at…

The annual rate of inflation came in at 2.2% in July, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show today, unchanged from a month earlier. The CSO said that inflation, as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which strips out mortgage interest costs, was unchanged at 1.5% year-on-year, in line with flash…

A total of 43 properties within the discretionary rate of the Housing Assistance Payment were available to rent in June this year, according to the latest quarterly Simon Communities’ Locked out of the Market report. It is an increase of five properties – or 13% – since March 2024. In 16 areas surveyed by the…

The amount of tax collected by the State between January and the end of July was up 9.5% on the same period last year, driven by income tax, corporation tax, VAT and excise duty. Latest Exchequer Returns show that in July alone €7.6 billion in tax was received, up 10.4% or €700m on the same…

A total of 31,384 new residential addresses were recorded over the year to June. GeoDirectory, which records the data, said this represents a 17.1% increase on the same point a year ago. The highest proportion of the new homes were in Dublin, making up a third of the total, followed by Cork, Meath and Kildare.…