On Friday 24th October Mr Edward Carey hosted the annual President’s Lunch of the Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute (IAVI at the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire

Mr Carey, IAVI President, spoke about the tough times facing the industry at present.

“While the IAVI is pleased that its three principal recommendations were met in the recent budget - the reduction in commercial stamp duty from 9% to 6%, the easing of access to mortgage credit for first-time buyers through the Housing Finance Agency and the creation of a simplified and enhanced shared ownership scheme – it cannot agree with other aspects of the “most contentious Budget in over two decades.

“Despite these steps, the bigger issue facing the market is public confidence,” he said. “While confidence and liquidity issues continue to be challenging, we believe that much can be done to stimulate and achieve growth by adjusting interest rates and increasing interest relief. The IAVI believe that it is time for the ECB to cut rates further to stimulate markets; a movement to 2.5 per cent would undoubtedly have a strong impact,” he said.

Building energy ratings scheme chaos
Another issue of concern for IAVI members is the energy rating certificate programme, which comes in to force for all sales and rental properties from 1 January 2009.

“At the start of next year the conveyancing and marketing of properties will be thrown into chaos because a state agency was not adequately resourced to manage the set-up of a nationwide training and certification regime.

“We expected that there would be clear direction on this programme and hoped that our members would be trained and ready to meet their obligations. However, this is simply not the case. Initially, we understood that our members would mostly be concerned with the provision of certs for existing properties; then SEI changed tack and made the training and exam modules for ‘new builds’ a compulsory step before progressing to the module on ‘existing buildings’. Even at this late stage, the module and exam for ‘existing properties’ are only being put in place,” he said.

“This is a tremendous concern for all our members as the legislation comes into effect in 68 days time and we urge the government and SEI to act urgently and address this issue, ” he said.

The future
Mr Carey said that IAVI members should continue to highlight their core values of ethics, professionalism and qualifications.

“These are words that counted for very little with the public during the Celtic tiger years. I have often felt that our profession has been diluted and our reputation weakened – and indeed it has. But now is the time for us to take back our profession. The market conditions right now have seen the lightweights and fast buck merchants leave the market,” he said.

In terms of assisting its own membership base, Mr Carey explained that the 2009 subscription fees have been waived for those made redundant and that tailored CPD upskilling seminars are being devised to support those who feel they could benefit from additional training.

Bank of Ireland, represented by Mr Gerry Burke, head of Global Property Finance, was the key sponsor of the lunch event.

The guest speaker at the event was Mr James Caan, renowned UK-based serial entrepreneur and panelist on BBC Two’s Dragon’s Den. Mr Caan addressed IAVI members and guests on the topical issue of surviving a slowdown in business and how to gear up for the inevitable market turn.


Ends

For more information please contact:
Carina O’Neill, Bracken Public Relations on 01-6773277 / 087 222 8124
Brendan Bracken, Bracken Public Relations on 01-6773277