Decline in property prices in Ireland eased somewhat in 2012 due to an increase in demand from major technology companies such as Google, LinkedIn, Paypal, Dropbox, SumUp, Yahoo and Facebook, who have established offices and headquarters in the country, according to Globalpropertyguide.com with reference to the development agency IDA Ireland. Dublin has attracted investors with low tax rates (12.5%), artificially supported by the Irish Government.
"Employees of large companies are spending here. The knock-on ripple effect of them from housing, property, coffee and lunch is massive for the greater area," Ms Louise Phelan, Paypal’s vice president of global operations tells Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview.
In 2012, exports of goods and services in Ireland rose by 9.1%, reaching €170.6 billion. For comparison, in 2007 these figures were €156.3 billion.
Global Research Property Guide reported that in 2012 the price index for residential property in Dublin fell by 2.5% (-3.6% in real terms). In the rest of Ireland (excluding capital) housing became cheaper by 6.1% (-7.3% in real terms). The EU hopes that the 2013 property prices in Ireland will climbed by 1.1%.