Word: boom
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Adamstown is one of scores of developments that sprang up across Ireland during the country's boom years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Families and young professionals quickly snapped up properties in what was to be the first complete new "town" to be built in Ireland in more than 20 years. Four years after the construction started, however, the building sites in Adamstown are as quiet as the empty streets. More than 200 properties are either vacant or unfinished, and the shopping center, soccer field and swimming pool promised in the glossy advertising booklets have yet to materialize...
...During the boom years, banks lent vast sums of money to developers as property fever gripped the newly wealthy nation. But when the bubble burst with the global meltdown last year, these unpaid loans left huge holes in the banks' books and the liberal lending of the Celtic Tiger era came to an abrupt halt. To steady the ship, the government placed a blanket guarantee on deposits in six Irish banks last September. At the time, according to Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, it was "the cheapest bailout in the world." But that claim soon came back to haunt...
...Philip Cummins, a 26-year-old electrician, bought a three-bedroom home in Adamstown in 2007 at the peak of the property boom. Like many first-time home buyers, he took out a 100% mortgage, which he pays off in monthly installments of $2,400. In the past two years, however, his apartment has dropped in value by nearly half. To make matters worse, he lost his job three months ago and has been unable to find work since. He's by no means alone. Ireland's unemployment rate has doubled in the past year, to 12.5%, and is expected...
...know what legal defenses are available to them as they battle lenders to keep their properties - or at least make foreclosure less painful and less costly. "Potentially, one of the most significant [defenses] is that the lender, because so many home loans were securitized during the housing boom, often doesn't even know who owns the mortgage anymore," says Froomkin. That, he adds, could throw into question the lender's right to bring the foreclosure case in the first place...
...China has subsidized purchases for some goods including small passenger cars and household appliances, which has led to a boom in spending in certain sectors. Passenger vehicle sales climbed 84% last month, and China is expected to surpass the U.S. as the largest car market this year. Consumers have also bought hundreds of thousands of refrigerators, washing machines and other appliances under a government promotion this year. (See pictures of the best-selling cars in China...