The European Commission has decided to terminate the infringement proceedings against Cyprus relating to the Law on estate agents, which restricted the activities of professionals from other Member States.

Ai. whereas real estate agents in Member States such as the UK, and other providers of services related to the real estate market in Spain, continue to market property in new urbanisations even when they are necessarily aware that there is a clear possibility that the project in question will not be completed or built,

AI. whereas real estate agents in Member States such as the UK, and other providers of services related to the real estate market in Spain, continue to market property in new urbanisations even when they are necessarily aware that there is a clear possibility that the project in question will not be completed or built,

Last year in Ireland house prices were forecast to increase by 9% by estate agents Hook and McDonald, by between 8% and 10% by Sherry Fitzgerald and by 7% by Friends First and IIB, while Allied Irish Banks forecast an increase of between 3% and 6%.

The most important issue investigated by the Committee, and the subject of two fact-finding visits, concerns the serious abuse of the rights of individual property owners as a result of unbridled urbanisation in the Valencian autonomous region of Spain - spurred on by local mayors and unscrupulous property developers.

[Text] Question No. 161 Mr. Gerry Ritz: With respect to government real estate holdings over the past six years (1997 to 2003): (a) what was the total square footage owned by the goverment; (b) specifying the names of the buildings, real estate agents involved, commissions paid to the said agents, puchase prices or lease prices, and names and addresses of the vendors, what new buildings were acquired or leased; and (c) in cases where financing was required, what companies provided the financing, what were the amounts and what interest rates were charged?