The slumping property sector claimed more jobs today as Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) axed 70 people from its specialist buy-to-let mortgage lending business.

This is the second round of redundancies for the IL&P unit, Capital Home Loans (CHL), which stopped writing new mortgages at the start of this year and axed 50 positions.

Bob Young, managing director at CHL, said: “We need to restructure our business in light of current market conditions and to be well placed for the business opportunities that lie ahead.”

House prices in Ireland fell by 9.7% to the end of July 2008, according to the latest figures from the Permanent TSB/ESRI House Price Index, but shrunk by just 0.2% in July. This isn’t a sign of a market recovery, however, but more a reflection of the fact that transaction volumes were light in the summer, reckons Niall O’Grady, general manager, business strategy at Permanent TSB.

The commercial property sector has fared equally badly. The market view for the third quarter from property consultants CB Ellis says that the property investment market in Ireland has come to a virtual standstill lately.

Marie Hunt, director of research at CB Richard Ellis, Ireland, said: “The market has been characterised by a lack of transactional activity in recent months. Irish investors have signed only €392m of investment transactions in Ireland in the first half of 2008, compared to €1.9bn in 2007.”

One financial services recruiter, who wished to remain anonymous, told us that hiring in both the residential and commercial property sectors this year had “simply been non-existent”.