House stock levels ‘low’

A construction firm boss says the completed stock in Cork is equivalent to just three months normal demand, writes Tommy Barker

Sat, 19 Nov, 2011 - 00:00

Tommy Barker

COMPLETED house stock in the greater Cork area is equivalent to just three months normal demand, says house-builder and vice chairman of the CIF national executive Stephen McCarthy of Astra Construction — who’s still building and selling 25 to 30 new homes a year.

Incredibly, there’s just 1,100 empty houses in what’s billed the ‘metropolitan’ area, which includes Ballincollig, Midleton and Carrigaline, according to official Department of Environment statistics for October 2011. Of that number, 737 are completed but vacant.

On top of that, there’s a stock of 1,042 apartments, of which 600 are completed but vacant.

According to Mr McCarthy, those figures compare to historical averages of over 4,000 homes per year over the 40-year period from 1970 to 2010: they peaked in 2006,with an extraordinary 9,544 completions, in Cork, and 93,419 nationally.

“We’re five years into the downturn, and you have to believe things will turn soon, with so much demand, so little activity and given the low level of stock in Metropolitan Cork. We were selling more houses, in the worst of it, in the 1980s,” says Mr McCarthy, whose company has recently marked its 25th year in business.

Recovery in demand turning into sales (bank lending permitting) will begin in the metropolitan region, farther-flung country towns will be slower to experience any pick-up, as will apartment sales, says Mr McCarthy, who quotes figures showing just 6% of would-be buyers interested in apartments, and 0% interest in one-beds. Of the 1,000 homes completed in Cork last year, 75% were one-offs, he adds.

Right now, Astra is actively building and selling houses in Carrigaline, where the satellite town’s catchment is about 16,000, while the region is buoyed by both the pharma and IT sectors, core Cork employers and exporters.

“There’ll always be those who want to buy a new house, for modern standards, but stock around in Carrigaline is very limited, we’ve seven or eight left and Castlelands have 29, and things were never so affordable as they are now,” notes Mr McCarthy.

His high-quality Forest Hill development so far has about 140 completed homes with about 250 sites in all, and he says he changes the mix to offer buyers choice, and in 2011 will match year’s figure of about 26 sales.

“Parents of buyers very often have the say, and they want to see activity on a site, you have to have that activity to create the confidence that a scheme will be finished,” he observes.

At Forest Hill right now, he has B1 energy rated 1,250 sq ft three-bed semis at €235,000, 2,000 sq ft four-bed semis with two en suites at €335,000, two-beds at €145,000, a show unit at €160,000, and three-bed mid-terraceds at €175,000.

COMPLETED VACANT APARTMENTS IN CORK

Cork city: 307

Douglas/Rochestown: 122

North of Cork city (Blarney/Glanmire): 21

Midleton: 4

Carrigaline: 1

Bishopstown/Ballincollig: 145

- Source: DoE

COMPLETED VACANT HOUSES IN CORK

Cork city: 198

Douglas/Frankfield/Rochestown: 103

Carrigaline/Crosshaven/Riverstick: 76