Returning locals are driving up house prices in Tralee 15%

Property Focus: A profile of the housing market in the North Kerry town

The Mall in Tralee. An influx of buyers puts pressure on housing stock, already in short supply in a town. Picture: Domnick Walsh

Tralee auctioneers, like those in many parts of the country, are reporting increased levels of activity and dramatic changes in buyer behaviour since the start of the pandemic.

As a result of an influx of returning locals, they say they are seeing multiple bidders on properties, which are selling more quickly and often for higher prices than were achieved before the pandemic. As the influx of buyers puts pressure on housing stock, already in short supply in a town that has seen little new development in recent years, they say prices are rising.

Auctioneer Gary O’Driscoll reckons that, between July 2020 and July 2021, prices have risen by 15%.

“Before the pandemic, three-bed semis in the town cost €150,000/€160,000; now they have gone up to €200,000/€220,000,” he says.

He also noted a €19,000 price difference for houses in a development at Killeen Heights, with No 58 selling for €160,000 in 2019, while last month No 56 sold for €179,000.

“Before the pandemic, you might get two or three bidders on a house. Now you can have anything up to 10 and maybe even more” he says, noting that the number of viewings is substantially higher.

“In 2018/2019, you might have had 18 to 20 people looking at a house; now you can have double or even treble that.”

'Before the pandemic, you might get two or three bidders on a house. Now you can have anything up to 10.' File Pic: Domnick Walsh

Mr O’Driscoll says that supply in the town is at an all time low. “I now only have 23 properties for sale. Before the pandemic, I would have had 60 or 70.”

Daire McCann of DNG Giles says that detached properties in the Tralee area are attracting strong interest from locals returning from Dublin and Cork, who want “space to work from home as well as better value and a better quality of life”.

She has also seen increased investor activity in the market due to a lack of rental property, and she notes investors are competing with first-time buyers for properties at the more affordable end of the market.

“We now have five people bidding on 4 Park Lane, a three-bed terraced house with a guide of €195,000, which has just gone €20,000 above its guide and isn’t finished yet,” she reveals.

Auctioneer Ger Carmody says he recently saw a surge in demand for properties at the Village Green in The Spa, a 16-unit development of large detached houses he has been selling since 2015.

“The first eight sold slowly over a few years, but the last eight went quickly between September last year and January, selling to buyers in Seattle, London and Leeds, and Irish-based ones,” he says, explaining that the prices in this development went from €450,000 to €500,000 depending on size.

Mr Carmody has observed that many of the buyers in town since the pandemic tend to be couples in their 40s with at least one of them being local.

“They are either returning from abroad or have been living in Dublin or Cork and they want to send their kids to school in Tralee.”

Estimating that prices have gone up by 12% or more, Mr Carmody says that shortage of supply is a significant issue. “There are now just 99 properties advertised in the Tralee area — back in 2010, after the crash, there were 600”.

Lisloose, Tralee €195,000 

BUYERS relocating from cities will be amazed at how affordable three-bed semis are in Tralee and at the fact that you can find modern well-maintained ones like 12 Lios Árd, Lisloose with a guide of €195,000.

Located 2.5 km from the centre it’s an attractive pink doored property which is new to the market with auctioneer Gary O’Driscoll. Noting that it overlooks a green area Mr O’Driscoll describes it as being spacious and tastefully decorated property and says that modern three-bed semis like this 2007-built one are in very short supply in the town.

Accommodation includes a living room, kitchen diner and a guest WC at ground level as well as a bathroom and three bedrooms, one en suite, upstairs.

VERDICT: Attractive to first-time buyers/ investors.

The Spa, Tralee €575,000 

THE guide price on No 11 Schoolfield at Ballygarron, Spa puts it at the top end of the Tralee property market.

Located 6 km from the town, in a cul de sac of individually built detached houses, it’s a 20-year-old stone fronted property with 3,000 sq ft/278 sq m of living space as well as half an acre of gardens.

Paul Stephenson of Sherry FitzGerald Crean says it’s a superb family home which, given its size and location in one of Tralee’s most popular residential areas, is likely to attract some of the buyers who have been relocating from cities. “It has a large detached garage which could be converted to a home office,’’ he says, and is near beaches, Tralee Golf Course and a planned Tralee Fenit Greenway.

VERDICT: Spacious and modern.

 

Chapeltown, Tralee €395,000 

Former students of the old national school at Chapeltown in Fenit might find it hard to recognise their schoolhouse in the spacious modern dormer property it has become.

Extended and completely renovated around 15 years ago, it’s now a five-bed, four-bathroom house with 2,260 sq ft of living space and a high B3 energy rating. Only the name plaque which reads Chapeltown National School 1876 and the old stone walls that surround the garden give any indication of its origins.

Quoting a guide of €395,000 for The Old Schoolhouse, auctioneer Gerard Carmody says it offers excellent space for a trade up buyer but could also be bought as a holiday home or by a buyer relocating from Dublin.

The property is just a five-minute drive from Fenit village and beach. Mr Carmody says that the area is very popular because of its proximity to the sea.

VERDICT: Surprisingly modern for an old schoolhouse.

Mounthawk, Tralee €345,000 

RECENTLY insulated and renovated, No 34 The Grove at Mounthawk is the type of detached four-bed property that’s been much in demand in Tralee this year.

That’s according to Daire McCann of DNG Giles who says it has attracted immediate interest from local buyers looking to trade up as well as buyers hoping to relocate their families to Tralee from other areas.

Built in the late 1990s, it’s a spacious 1,765 sq ft property which has a large garden with no less than three patio areas. Quoting a guide of €345,000, Ms McCann says it’s in excellent decorative order and that its location, in a mature cul de sac within 2.5 km from the town centre, is very sought after. “It’s just a five minute walk to Mercy Mounthawk School, and O’Donnell’s Restaurant and Bar and it is within easy reach of beaches at Fenit, Banna and Ballyheigue.” 

VERDICT: Expected to go quickly.