Former one-bed Kinsale council home is more than a million dollars baby

Killer views at €1.35m No 3 Fr McSweeney Terrace, which has been thoroughly upgraded

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025 - 17:37

Catherine Shanahan Pictures: Jakub Walutek

Kinsale, Co Cork
€1.35m
Size	70 sq m (753 sq ft)
Bedrooms	1
Bathrooms	1
BER	N/A

LET’S be real. House prices in Kinsale have lost the run of themselves. Even wilder is the number of buyers ready, willing and able to pony up.

So far in 2025, the equivalent of one house per month has sold for more than €1m in the pretty coastal town, which doesn’t sound too off the wall until you drill down into the actual properties.

The house that made the most money in the first five months of the year — €2.82m — was a modest beachside cottage. Even if the setting is delicious — right by the sea in Sandycove — the price paid for it seems crazy.

The beachside cottage in Sandycove that sold for €2.82m

Not so though for US billionaire James Berwind, who has been splurging on homes around Kinsale, as if millions were spare change. His name is as well known in town now as the famous Blue Haven.

In this febrile market, will any eyebrows even rise upon hearing that No 3 Fr McSweeney Terrace, a 70 sq m, one-bedroom former council house, in the upmarket Ardbrack part of town, has just come up for sale with a whopping price tag of €1.35m?

The auctioneer selling it, Brendan Bowe, of Bowe Property, doesn’t think so even if @crazyhouseprices social media calls it “insane”. Mr Bowe points out that No 12, also a former council house, higher up on High Road, sold in June last year for €1.325m.

It too featured in these pages and was a bigger, two-bedroom, extended home (89 sq m). What both have in common is mighty harbour views, long, south-facing rear gardens and immaculate, stylish presentations.

No 3, a family property, has been lived in by the current owner for the past dozen or so years and was done up to a very high standard. Downstairs is open plan: Kitchen/dining/living with sliding doors out to a three-tier deck.

The fun part is the jacuzzi on the lower deck.

Where better to bubble up than overlooking the natural beauty of the harbour, with Charles Fort, James Fort and Kinsale town and marinas all in the vista? Or settle by the stove indoors, next to the natural stone chimney breast?

Views are heavenly from upstairs too: A deluxe bedroom has picture windows.

The bathroom is equally deluxe.

Mr Bowe says the site is “extraordinarily private” and that there is scope to expand, as many neighbours have done. “The buyer is limited only by their imagination” he says, although planners might challenge that.

He says “in every room, you are drawn in by the views”. “There is no distraction or disruption to those views”.

Mr Bowe adds that the location “at the confluence of Scilly and Ardbrack is as good as it gets in Kinsale”.

“It’s on the market just over a week and it’s attracting a healthy level of enquiries, predominantly from overseas, predominantly from the US.

“Dollar buyers are quite prolific in Kinsale and there’s a marked increase in Q1 of this year compared to Q1 last year. Overseas buyers are up by one third,” Mr Bowe says.

VERDICT: Crazy house price? The market will decide.