Cork’s new homes private sales stronger than reported

Industry experts says reports of only 30 newly-built houses selling to private buyers in Cork in 2025 are far short of the real sales figures. Tommy Barker reports 

An aerial view of new housing under development at Passage West, Co Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins

There are lies, damn lies, statistics and, sometimes, just plain old errors or erroneous assumptions when assessing the output and activity in Ireland’s housing market.

One of these was a claim in online news media that only 30 newly-built houses out of 1,499 new units had sold to private buyers in Cork in 2025: despite being clearly and intuitively wrong, the figure of 30 sales (just 3%) got widespread traction, ignited chat forum threads and debates.