RTÉ architect Dermot Bannon has said that the property price crash “needed to happen.”
The Room To Improve presenter, currently working on the show’s sixth series, which airs this autumn, described price increases during the boom as “crazy”.
He told the Evening Herald: “It was crazy the way prices went up and up. It made me worry if my own children would ever afford a house.
“The price drop really needed to happen. People can afford to buy again. Things should not change too rapidly. I can’t seen the property market going anywhere unless the economy picks up,” he said.
He admitted, however, that the stall in the property market had led to more and more people renovating.
"People everywhere just can't move house any more because they are trapped with huge negative equity. They are stuck in houses that they never intended to stay in. So they are building on extra bedrooms for their children and doing the best they can," said the architect.