Only way is up for €950,000 extended Ballincollig home
11 Fernwalk, Greenfields, Ballincollig
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Ballincollig, Cork |
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€950,000 |
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Size |
255 sq m (2750 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
4 |
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Bathrooms |
4 |
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BER |
B3 |
TO pilfer a phrase from a catchy ‘80s hit, The Only Way is Up for house prices at Ballincollig’s Fernwalk.
Steady price creep is plain as day to anyone looking back over the last half dozen or so years of the Property Price Register. The first Fernwalk home in the expansive Greenfields development to sell for in excess of €600,000 was No 85 in 2018. Figures jumped to another realm in 2021 when No 46 sold for €865,000. A year and a bit later, the talk was of the first potential €1m sale at Fernwalk. In the end, No 49, which came to market for €800,000, sold for €920,000. Things calmed a little, when, in February, No 20 sold for just under €743,000.
The caveat when comparing Fernwalk prices is that it’s about as meaningful as apples v oranges, as the homes weren't all uniform to begin with and many have been extended in the 20 or so years since they were built. In fact what marked Fernwalk out from the myriad of homogenous Greenfields’ estates was that there was an option at the earlier stages to buy a serviced site from developers O’Flynn Construction, and to build your own bespoke home.
When the owners of No 11 bought the 0.2 acre site on which to build their home in 1999, Ballincollig was a very different animal. For starters, there was no bypass. It took another few years for that road to be built, by Turkish company Gama Tubin, prompting one letter writer to the Irish Examiner to suggest that it be called Hadji Bey Expressway, after the exotic sweet treats known as Turkish Delights.
His suggestion gained no traction and Gama lost its gloss when workers were found to have been exploited by low hourly pay rates and unpaid overtime. The bypass was a resounding success though, and still is, which is good news for those living in Fernwalk, who have immediate access.
“Our daughter travels into Cork University Hospital and she can get there in six minutes,” say the owners of No 11.
When they built their home, called Brenell, Ballincollig was still countryside and O’Flynn Construction had yet to spend more than €40m buying the 90-acre Murphy Army Barracks site, on which it would ultimately build close to 1,000 homes, while also creating a new town centre. Growth has been exponential since and the employment base has expanded, fueling more demand for homes and pushing up prices. Brenell comes to market at a new high, a €950,000 guide price.
Selling agent Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald is confident of making the guide as she says the house size, site size and what comes with it (eg independent block-built home office) make it a chunkier package that some other recent Fernwalk sales.
“It was one of the early sites to be sold off and it’s a bigger plot. And unlike some of the homes built in the later stages of Fernwalk, it’s not overlooked. It’s a very private site. And for any family, it’s extremely convenient for school bus pick-up for both primary and secondary schools,” Ms Healy says.
The owners paid €42,300 for the site and set about building in the early noughties. In 2005, they decided to extend, outwards and upwards, using the same warm red brick as the main house.
It created a huge downstairs lounge with large bay, and behind it, through double doors, a home office or homework hub, and behind that again, a sunroom. The main bedroom is overhead, a supersize room, with ensuite and walk-in-wardrobe, and, the pièce de résistance, a jumbo balcony, overlooking the extensive back garden.
The lounge, which replaced a much smaller playroom, has a Cloghroe Joinery fireplace, large enough to accommodate not just Santa, but a whole fleet of reindeer.
“We have pictures of the kids sitting on the steps in front of the fireplace at Christmas, they loved it,” the woman of the house says.
On the opposite side of the hallway is a smaller reception room which opens into the main living space, a c6m x 7m kitchen/diner/lounge with a glass rear (angled to catch the sun), overlooking a hefty sandstone patio and garden, where Nangle Nurseries did the original landscaping.
It’s south-facing, with lots of mature trees and shrubs, two storage sheds (the larger is substantially concealed behind greenery), and a block-built home office, with adjoining storage and WC.
It’s ideal for anyone working from home.
Back indoors, there’s a wet room downstairs and a utility, between the kitchen and study hub.
With four bedrooms upstairs (two ensuite) and room on the landing for a desk and chair, there’ll be no shortage of space for doing homework.
“We’ve loved living here, there was plenty of room for everyone and it’s so central to Ballincollig, yet so private,” the down-sizing owners say.
Ms Healy is expecting strong demand from families looking to trade up in the area.
“It’s not often houses of this scale (255 sq m) come up and this one is nicely positioned, in a cul de sac setting, within seconds drive from the bypass, with easy access to Bishopstown, Wilton and Cork City. It’s also within walking distance of Ballincollig town centre,” Ms Healy says.
A shortage of good trade-up stock should work in favour of the sale of this hefty, conveniently-located, family home.
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