Bids of €1m received for dated, chalet-style bungalow overlooking Inchydoney beach

Bidding for the house, which needs a revamp, started at under €430,000 but rose to €1.15m after nearly 70 bids. No Inchydoney property has come near the €1m price point until now

Laguna bungalow. Picture: Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill

West Cork’s Blue Flag beach Inchydoney is having a post-covid property ‘moment in the sun’ — a dated, chalet-style bungalow overlooking the beach has received a bid of over €1m.

JCB diggers and hard-hatted builders look likely to join the famous beach’s bucket and spade brigade if the sale of a 1,100 sq ft house, which needs a revamp, near the hotel goes through after recent days of frenzied bidding.

The basic condition Laguna, used as a holiday home by a Cork city family for 30 years, only went to market in mid-February with a €545,000 guide. 

Laguna. Picture: Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill

Agents Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill admitted it was hard to value given no recent comparable sales.

Bidding started at under €430,000 but rose to €1.15m after nearly 70 bids, with three parties remaining at or over the €1m mark by mid-week, a mix of Irish and overseas, and most with links to the beach-blessed area near Clonakilty, an hour from Cork city and airport.

Despite its huge and still-growing popularity, no Inchydoney property has come near the €1m price point until now.

Laguna bungalow. Picture: Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill

There’s been very little offered there since covid: a high-end three-bed dormer on Dunmore Road looking over Inchydoney came to market last week for €950,000; a two-bed apartment by the four-star hotel and spa made a remarkable €490,000 last year, and the period Inchydoney House on the back of the island only made €650,000 in 2013, but has had millions spent on it since.

Even the hotel site itself was a fraction of what diminutive Laguna is currently being bid to, and others who own holiday and full-time homes here in what’s indeed a special spot (think Kinsale values right now at €1m a site?) will watch agog, and perhaps ready to follow suit on this tidal surge in values.

Laguna bungalow. Picture: Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill

In fact one’s already on the way: a fully upgraded stunner very close to Laguna and on a larger site, with the same view, is expected to be a spring arrival in the €1.6m to €2m price bracket. 

With clearly well-heeled house Inchydoney island hunters already active on the ground, that one will be a walk-in job, in sandals, for summer 2023.