Secondhand market has bottomed out, claim agents

THE secondhand market has bottomed out in key location areas – and shortage of supply is part of the reason.

That’s according to Declan Madden of agents Redfords. The firm, one of the newest on Cork city’s South Mall, only formed in 2008, so the founding members knew they were facing an uphill struggle in a downhill market.

But, Madden, Pat Clancy, Mark Hornibrook and Chris McCarthy persevered through a generally lousy 2009 when the lack of banking crippled the market (rentals and management kept them going, they say) and now see signs of movement, sales and bank lending evident from activity so far this year.

“The worst is over, I think, the phones are ringing more, banks like BofI, AIB and EBS are lending a good bit more. The corner’s turned and you’d be surprised at how well 2010 is holding up for us,” says Madden.

They said the market hadn’t much stock, very little well-located new homes are close to Cork city and “if you wait for the bottom of the market, you’ll have no stock; remember there’s three or four years of buyers backed up waiting to move”.

Madden said Redfords had four buyers on the lookout for product in the €700 to €750,000 range, after their successful c. €600,000 sale of the dormer Snugboro, in Belmont, off Rochestown’s Coach Hill.

Pat Clancy says they’ve even had a few sales to investors, switching from cash, now that values have dropped to affordable levels with realistic returns, and said he had one client with €1 million to spend, half in cash, half borrowed, for a mix of residential investments.

He instanced their c €130,000 sale of a three-bed semi at 27 Mount Eden Road in Gurranabraher, while a two-bed at Mount Sion Road in Greenmount made close to a revised €195,000 ask, down from an initial €249,000. Another property in Pinecroft, Grange, sold within 48 hours of going to market, bought by a local.

Overall, values are down 40% from peak, Mr Clancy says. Also sold at about the €190k ask was a one-sixth acre site for a house at Deepark Grove, Turners Cross. A new four-bed, 2,300 sq ft dormer at Mariner’s View in Passage West with a builder’s finish made within 10% of its €395,000 asking price.

Vendors realise that prices have to be realistic. “It is easier now to talk to people,” says Clancy, who adds that there are genuine buyers out there – and they’ve been saving up for the past two years.