New housing developments in Kerry Pike are proving very popular

Mitchell’s Court is well in order, says Tommy Barker.

Kerry Pike, Cork

€530,000-€585,000

Size: 2,272 sq ft-2,440 sq ft

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 4

BER: A3

CORK’S Kerry Pike village “was buzzing all weekend,” says estate agent Paul Hannon of Sherry FitzGerald, after the company agreed sales on 19 out of 21 brand new builds, just launched at O’Flynn Construction’s fresh Clonalara development of 144 homes on the fringes of Cork city, after two days of open house.

And, while building is only really getting in its stride at Clonlara’s c 40-acres, this same month a new show house opens for 14 large detached homes also in Kerry Pike.

It’s at the Mitchells Court scheme, where O’Flynn Construction bought out the remainder of this once-stalled scheme of 33 detacheds, started by D&J Builders in 2008.

The show unit, or the largest, c 2,440 sq ft ‘A’ type opens on Wednesday afternoon, and is one of four house styles designed day one by architect Bill Mullins for Mitchells Court, which was the first new house development in Kerry Pike for over 30 years when started in ’08, with prices back then of €670,000 to €830,000.

There’s still a village community feel to Kerry Pike, despite its proximity to Cork city (‘bout three miles) via Clogheen and to Tower, Blarney and Ballincollig, with national school and GAA club at its centre.

After the launch of Clonlara the population is set to grow steadily.

Aiming to finish out the upmarkets scheme of Mitchells Court first, there are 14 houses to be finished, four are pre-sold, and nine are available, says Sherry Fitz’s New Homes director Paul Hannon, with prices starting at €530,000 for a D type; all have individual price tags and ‘A’s are currently priced at €585,000, having c 200 sq ft more overall space.

Meanwhile, the Sherry Fitz/O’Flynn Construction ‘team’ launch last weekend of the more broadly-based Clonlara Kerry Pike scheme 500 metres away, with a marketing suite/cabin on site, is being seen as very successful and hitting the mark in terms of pricing.

Clonlara has nine house types, with 1,100 sq ft three-bed semis priced €285,000/€295,000 and higher were keenly pursued and all booked, with four-bed 1,500 sq ft detacheds from €365,000 also very popular.

The 19 sales of the 21 homes released covered all types up to and excluding the largest detacheds, with two available at the €500,000 mark where, presumably, intending buyers will be weighing up the options of Clonlara vs Mitchells Court.