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10

2020 Number Claiming House Price Inflation At Highest

7th, Pandemic Unemployment N a t i o n a l Rate In Three Years
October house at price
inflation
is
now
its
| Payments Jumps By highest level in
than
more
EXAMINER 10,000 Last Week three years, a
report
new
shows.
According
he number of people
IRISH Tic unemployment pay- house price
to the latest
claiming the pandem-
ment (PUP) jumped by report from
10,801 last week, new fig- MyHome.ie, asking price inflation rose by 5.2% nationally in
ures show. the third quarter of this year, the highest figure since the first
It is the first weekly quarter of 2017 when it stood at 5.5%.
The report, published in association with Davy, also found
increase since the number of that asking price inflation year-on-year increased by 5.1%
people on the scheme peaked nationwide.
at 602,107 at the start of May. The mix-adjusted asking price for newly-listed properties
Figures released by the nationally now stands at 282,000 euro, while the price in
Central Statistics Office (CSO) Dublin is 386,000 euro and elsewhere around the country it is
show that in the last week of 236,000 euro.
September, 217,142 people The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, chief econo-
were in receipt of the pay- mist at Davy, said that despite the significant increase, “we
ment. were not likely to be facing another property bubble”.
Of the 217,142 people, 54.5 Register which is a historical The Temporary Wage “The news that asking price inflation bounced back to 5%
per cent were men, 69.6 per series that includes the num- Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was in Q3 2020 could at face value be taken as a sign of a fresh
cent were Irish and almost a ber of claimants for replaced by the employment bubble emerging in the Irish housing market,” he said.
quarter are in each of the 25 to Jobseekers Benefit and wage subsidy scheme (EWSS) “However, we would caution that Covid-19 has disrupted
34-year-old and 35 to 44-year- Jobseekers Assistance. last month. the usual seasonal pattern of the housing market and may
old age groups. “A review of non-recipient The CSO said it does not have flattered the annual comparison.
The CSO released two dif- Live Register claims is ongo- yet have access to data from “Just as we thought the -3% inflation reading in Q2 2020
ferent unemployment figures ing at the DEASP the Revenue Commissioners was an aberration, the same is likely true for the +5% record-
ed here. The truth probably lies close to the middle of these
for the month stating that it (Department of Employment for September. two readings.
has provided details of Covid- Affairs and Social Protection) A breakdown of the num- “The third quarter is normally a weak one for pricing, cap-
19 income support payments and relates primarily to cases bers receiving the PUP each turing the end of the summer selling season – which has been
separately. where a person who received week shows that 45,552 peo- delayed this year. Hence, asking price inflation will likely fall
The seasonally adjusted a PUP has since closed their ple under the age of 25 were back in Q4.”
Live Register total for PUP claim and reported a in receipt of the payment. Angela Keegan, managing director of MyHome.ie, said
September stood at 215,400 return to employment. The figures also show that that strong demand and weak supply caused by the suspen-
people, which was an increase “This will impact the Live 719,224 people have received sion of construction at the height of the lockdown were driv-
of 1,600 from August. Register totals, as some of at least one payment since the ing the inflation rate.
Catalina Gonzalez, CSO these non-recipient jobseeker scheme was established in “MyHome.ie recorded its busiest ever month for website
statistician, explained: “The claims were included on the March this year, of which 56.3 traffic in July, while our latest consumer sentiment survey
income support payments are Live Register, but their job- per cent are men and 48.2% conducted in August showed that 71% of prospective buyers
not captured in the traditional seeker claims were not auto- are aged between 25 and 44 expected to buy in the next year,” she said.
methodology of the Live matically closed at that time.” years of age. C “This shows that buyers appear to have largely been unaf-
fected by Covid-19’s economic impact. On the supply side,
meanwhile, stock levels are down 25% compared with this
time last year. This combination has led to asking prices being
driven upwards.” C
Contacless Payments Accounted For
Almost $1.2billion In August
The amount of money people are spending monthly on
contactless payments is getting close to $1.2billion.
New Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI)
research shows August saw record highs of $1.16billion.
Consumers have increased their use of contactless pay-
ments due to the ongoing pandemic.
BPFI spokesperson Olivia Buckley says customers are
switching from cash to contactless:
“People have really embraced contactless payment and we
know that half of all payments in August were made in con-
tactless form.
“It is really becoming more popular and people are embrac-
ing it, we are seeing that move away from cash to digital. This
looks like a trend that we are going to see continue on into the
future.” C