€11.5m land sale expected as Kenmare prices rocket
A six-acre site by the sea, with planning permission for one house, at Templenoe, reportedly made €1m, recently, with €900,000 and €830,000 being paid for other sites.
Local councillor and auctioneer Michael Connor-Scarteen yesterday said that, with planning permission granted for more than 700 houses in Kenmare, there was an urgent need to fasttrack extensions to water and sewerage services.
“I believe we’ll see double that number of houses going up in Kenmare before too long because demand is there and people are also buying holiday homes,” he said.
“Development is already running ahead of services and we’re told it will take at least three years to improve the necessary infrastructure.
“Sites are getting scarce within a five-mile radius of the town and, with the stipulation in planning that a one-off house must be the permanent home of the applicant, planning can be hard to get,” he said.
Auctioneer Tom Spillane, meanwhile, said negotiations were continuing with interested parties in regard to the sale of 18.6 acres, which was expected to make at least €11.5m. He said the sale had not yet been completed.
This piece of prime development land, owned by the well-known Quill business family, was due to be sold by public auction, last Friday.
However, no bids were taken and it was withdrawn to allow for negotiations with likely purchasers.
Seen as ideal for housing, the land has a high and medium density zoning and is close to Kenmare town centre and the golf club.
“Demand for this type of land is very strong in Kenmare and the level of interest is very positive,” Mr Spillane said.
“The attractiveness of Kenmare - found by a leading American magazine to be among the 20 most favoured places in the world to retire to - continues to boost property prices.”
A four-bedroom semi-detached house can now make up to €390,000 in Kenmare, Mr Spillane said.
Kerry, meanwhile, has the highest increase in house prices in 2005, according to figures released by Permanent TSB.
Prices in the county went up by 15% last year. In 2004, a three-bedroom semi-detached house cost an average of €220,484, but increased to €253,000 last year.
