Cork property market shows upward trend

Transactions levels are up 17% in 2013 in Cork City and county, making it the local housing market’s best year since 2010 for volume of sales.

West Cork, and in particular Kinsale, is seeing the strongest recovery, and values of what sold are up 10% too, according to analysis by property website Myhome.ie Their analysis compares the first nine-month periods of the years back to 2010, and says the volume of sales rose faster in Cork this year than in Dublin, where there was a 13% lift in activity.

However, while values of sold Cork property rose 10.6% in 2013, this was still down 14.1% on the €301m that was spent on property in 2010.

Value of transactions averaged €264m up to Sept 30 this year, and €239.5m for the same period of 2012.

West Cork drove the recovery (sales activity up by 19.6% in the nine-month period, and value of those transactions rose by 22.7%.) Kinsale in particular shone, with transactions levels up 61% — and the value of those transactions rocketed by 116%.

Mallow and Midleton both saw sales fall during the period — but Carrigaline sales doubled, reveals the MyHome overview. Making different waves was Cork City, where sales activity rose by 10.2% (Jan-Sept), yet the value of those transactions was down 4.9%, affected by the decline in sales activity in the likes of Douglas, Rochestown and the Model Farm Road area, where insufficient stock was available for demand.

There have been 1,791 transactions in Cork so far (to Nov 18), surpassing the 1,648 for the whole of 2011 (there were 1,803 sales in 2010 and 2,194 from 2012.) Angela Keegan, MD of MyHome.ie, said the welcome increase in activity was coming off a low base.

She said agents report a general shortage of trading up homes in the city, especially in areas like Rochestown, Douglas, Blackrock, Ballinlough, Bishopstown and the Model Farm Road. “We are hearing that properties in Ballincollig are very much in demand due to the proximity to the city and that Glanmire and Carrigaline are not far behind,” Ms Keegan notes, adding that cash investors were active in inner city and apartment purchases. “The outlook for the Cork property market in 2014 is positive; we need the banks to address the mortgage arrears situation and we need local authorities to ensure new developments meet existing and future demand,” she states.