One of Ireland's second-biggest publicly traded homebuilder Abbey posted a 19 per cent decline in first-half profit and said cooling Irish and UK markets may lead to a "very poor" performance over the next two years.
Pre-tax profit declined to €18.2 million ($26.6 million) in the six months through October from €22.6 million a year earlier, Abbey said today in a statement this morning.
Increased borrowing costs in Ireland and the UK have curbed demand for property, while the fallout from the US subprime crisis has made it more difficult for potential home buyers to obtain loans.
UK house prices fell for a third month in November, the worst performance in more than a decade, while Irish house prices have fallen for the last eight months.
"The underlying conditions have been steadily deteriorating and 2008/2009 may well be a very poor trading period," the company said in the statement.
