Smart build in Union Hall is making a splash

The ongoing demand for coastal homes will bolster sales at Páirc na Fána, writes Tommy Barker

Sun, 04 Jul, 2021 - 17:00

Union Hall, West Cork
€450,000
Size	188 sq m (2010 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	4
BER	B3

IT’S taken a while for the tide to turn back in the favour of West Cork’s Páirc na Fána, but it assuredly has, with sales proceeding at a pace in the past few months in the Union Hall development, first launched at market peak in 2007.

The upmarket development of 44 homes, aimed back then primarily at the holiday home market, fell victim to the late-in-the-boom timing of its launch.

But, a number sold, and what was built was well kept, whilst a number got rented in the interim, both by the developers and including some of those who’d bought, but needed rental income to stay on top of their purchases when the economy tanked.

Even before the global pandemic drove a whole new wave of house hunters to coastal settings, sales and resales at the quality scheme Páirc na Fana were back in the ascendant, with a mix of bungalows, terraced, semis and detacheds.

The Price Register records 32 sales since 2010, at prices from historic lows of €140,000 to €385,000, and there are higher deals done, just not yet on the Register.

Estate agent Liam Hodnett, now with Hodnett Forde in Clonakilty, is a joint agent with Michael McKenna in current sales and listings such as the proposed one at No 25, a four-bed detached, one of the largest, at just over 2,000 sqft, and B3 BER-rated.

Mr Hodnett says there have been three sales in the past few early summer weeks, once word got out that some of the houses were being fully finished out, or refreshed after the rental period and as leases ran out.

“There’s been great interest, and it’s going very well,” Mr Hodnett says of the very attractive development and mix of house types in a lovely village, near beaches, Glandore, and with a short spin of Skibbereen and Rosscarbery/Clonakilty, just over an hour from Cork city.

Hodnett Forde and Michael McKenna guide the smart, detached, two-storey No 25 at €450,000.