THE boss of Ireland's 'bad bank' believes the Irish property crash has ended and that growth is beginning to return to the market.
Frank Daly, who chairs the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), said: "I think there is evidence that we have reached the bottom, beginning to move off it."
Nama was set up by the Irish government after the banking crisis five years ago.
Having taken over unpaid bank loans worth billions of euros, the bank is currently the biggest property owner in the Irish market.
The bank also controls about £1bn of property loans originally made by Dublin-based banks to customers in the North of Ireland.
While the comments will be welcome to Irish homeowners, Daly called for a measured approach to the improving position of the market.
Nama chairman Frank Daly“What we're not going to do is get into the highly speculative approach that really got this country into trouble,” he said.
Mr Daly added that the recovery of the Irish property market was happening fastest in Dublin but that he expected it would spread to Cork and other parts of the country.
The Nama chair pointed to evidence of a "strong demand for prime properties" and predicted greater confidence in the market over the coming years.
Ireland property market went bust more than six years ago, with the crash taking hold during the global financial crisis of 2008.
Last month the country became the first Eurozone nation to leave the bailout.
