Kinsale's unique universal appeal

"The European and indeed worldwide appeal of Kinsale continues at pace," say property experts

The Georgian home Sprayfield is on 40 acres with woodland, stables and half a mile of sea frontage just west of Kinsale harbour and Sandycove Island. It came to market with €4.7m AMV is and is already sale agreed. It’s likely to be one of Munster’s top house sale result of 2023. 

There can’t be any other Munster location with as broad and strong a buyer profile as Kinsale — it gets buyers from all over, from the hyper-local and from all over Cork, to second home buyers from Dublin, across the UK and traditionally from Europe and, currently very strongly, from the US.

Kerry’s Kenmare, or even Killaloe on the Shannon, might try to rival it in terms of where buyers come from, but the serious money trail is to Kinsale, with the biggest bucks secured in sales, no two ways about it.

“The lifestyle appeal that Kinsale offers and its proximity to Cork International Airport are the key drivers to this demand,” says Michael O’Donovan of Savills estate agency office in Cork, reporting advanced sale interest in a number of their local 2022/2023 listings, on either side of the town, from Oysterhaven in the city direction to Sandycove heading west and just a bit off-piste, and with those all-important water views, for high-end home hunters.

They include a sale in the final throes at a modern build called Pau Hana at Courtparteen, near Sandycove, being sold for its US owners who built the 3,700 sq ft home on 1.2 acres in 2003. The couple, now relocating back across the Atlantic and in their ‘older’ years, lived at Pau Hana first part-time, then full-time while also running a business here, and it’s understood to have made over its €1.65m guide.

It was followed quite recently on the market by one of Cork’s loveliest residential property mixes in what’s been an exceptionally strong year for coastal and harbour homes, the charming Georgian villa called Sprayfield, right on the water at Sandycove.

That 250-year-old Georgian single-storey house, on the coastal outskirts of Kinsale, has been the private home of an academic and business couple, for over two decades and is on 40 acres with half a mile of sea frontage and woodland with organic gardens, stable and guest apartment.

Sprayfield came to market only at the start of May 2023, with a €4.7m AMV and got immediate attention, though no details are as yet know of the bidding progress. Will it end up in the same echelon as Raffeen House (€4.8m), Constantia Farm (excess €5m,) or Ocean Breeze, likely be sub- its €5m AMA when it makes it to the Price Register? Might it even set a new record?

Annefield House at Oysterhaven, a stunning chocolate-box pretty home on over five acres.

Then, in mid-May, Savills’ colleague and director Catherine McAulifffe listed Annefield House at Oysterhaven, a centuries-old chocolate-box pretty home on over five acres by Ballinclashet Creek, with a €1.5m guide, with charm in buckets and spades.

“All three properties are at an advanced stage of sale and each property featured in the Irish Examiner,” said Mr O’Donovan, noting they had also sold out the Centurion Homes 25-unit RathMore Green development at Barrack Green (prices averaged c€550k), as well as units at Convent Garden, the conversion of the former Mercy Convent for developers Cumnor Construction, at prices from €640,000 to €1.2m in the Avila section, with the first phase sold out and a possible second phase of later this year.

Savills say they’ve met “a high volume of international buyers in the Kinsale market over the last 12 months. We are currently dealing with a high volume of US-based buyers with interest in all property types and price ranges. The European and indeed worldwide appeal of Kinsale continues at pace. The lifestyle appeal that Kinsale offers and its proximity to Cork International airport are the key drivers to this demand.” 

That chimes with comments from Johnny O’Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald who says the Kinsale market “has performed well again throughout the year with strong results being seen,” with a spillover also into West Cork.

Ringcurran House near Summercove, a house that has attracted buyer interest from Ireland and overseas. 

Sherry FitzGerald’s Cork city office listed the period 3,400 sq ft Ringcurran House near Summercove last year at €1.85m: it was withdrawn temporarily from the market but got a quiet relaunch and is ‘sale agreed’ at present, as is the same agency’s Leighmoneymore House near Dunderrow and the Eli Lilly plant which is a key drive of Kinsale’s wage economy, a 100-year old 4,800 sq ft offer with a €1.8m price tag, locally reported to have been bid well over the guide and sale agreed in jig time, but as yet with details unconfirmed by the agents.

“There is strong interest from the local buyer, however there continues to be very good enquiries and interest from the international buyer. We are mainly seeing enquiries from the UK and the US,” says Mr O’Flynn, stating that “typically, the US buyer is looking for an additional residence and is considering the overall West Cork region, including Kinsale,” adding that “the proximity to Cork airport certainly attracts this buyer to Kinsale.”