New apartments and three bed homes in Cork must sell for over €200k to be viable

New three-bedroomed semi-detached homes in Cork will have to sell from €270,000 and apartments from €230,000, to be economically viable, a construction industry seminar was told yesterday.

However, revised Central Bank lending rules seek to peg prices for homes for first-time buyers closer to €220,000, a level at which new builds cannot be supplied, it was claimed. It was a move which has already affected the Dublin market and driven buyers to the fringes of counties such as Meath and Kildare for homes they can secure borrowing on.

Against a mounting backdrop of a housing and rental crisis, builders, developers, bankers, and estate agents were yesterday told by one of the country’s most senior surveyors, Frank Ryan of DTZ, it now takes €255 per square foot to create a starter home, and €300 per square foot, or €230,000, for an 800 sq ft apartment.