Many Munster homes made millions in 2025: we round up most of the year's monsters

Strong demand, limited supply, and lifestyle buyers are pushing Cork house prices into territory once associated only with Dublin, writes Tommy Barker

Sat, 20 Dec, 2025 - 00:00

Tommy Barker reports

WE SAID it here before (probably first back in Celtic Tiger times) but €1m isn’t what it used to be. It’s no surprise that Irish residential property values have been back in the ascendent over the past five years.

Just prior to covid, the wise heads and commentators were reckoning that values were (or should be) at a peak and were ready to cool off.

Instead, and despite the interjection of covid-19, the trajectory has continued unabated.

So, once more, property market commentary is rounding on the topic of when there might be a peak, a correction, or worse, and what might be the external trigger factors to stop the upward movement.

Rathclaren House, Kilbrittain, made €3m to a UK buyer, via Hodnett Forde jointly with Lisney Sotheby's International Realty

This is all at a time of unprecedented demand and, once more, significant prices being paid for top Irish homes.

While new urban house types are increasingly skewing towards apartments, today we’ll look at the once-traditional staple of a three-bed semi-d for price benchmarking purposes.

By the end of 2025, this staple family home has a median value of €550,000 to €650,000 in Dublin and its commuter catchment.

In Cork, the median is €450,000 to €500,000, while in Galway, Limerick, and Waterford, the median is currently heading to €450k, with Galway traditionally ahead of the other major cities in price terms.

Thus, volumes of three-bed semis in Dublin and Cork, are making up to and over half a million euro heading into the New Year, and with most commentators expecting low single-digit price inflation across the Irish property market throughout 2026.

Every property band has experienced the price bulge, exemplified once more by the sheer volume of Irish homes selling for over €1m — breaching that mark isn’t a front-page headline (€500k for a new city semi-d still is, tho’) but the number of them routinely doing so deserves being recorded.

Silver medal: the Coveney clan's Silver Apple at Cork harbour's mouth made €3m via Savills

The Property Price Register and other sources show approximately 1,900 sales in excess of €1m by the end of this week, the vast bulk of them in Dublin — while in each province, asmall proportion of that number is ‘bulk’ sales.

Cork so far has had over 90 sales of €1m-plus, about 15 of those made up of bulk sales, by the Irish Examiner’s estimates: Thus, about 75 Cork city and county homes breached the €1m barrier in the year just ending.

That compares to our estimates of 60-plus one-off homes sales over €1m in 2024, and some 54 at and over this level in 2023.

So, despite some cooling of momentum in the last quarter of 2025, the ‘millionaires’ mix’ graph continues upwards for now at least.

MULTI MILLIONS

The year ends with three Cork sales at or over €3m, not all yet visible on the Price Register, all coincidently with water views, with €3m also the top city price in 2024, while a far larger country home deal is understood to be in the wings heading into 2026.

The biggest sale known to date was the re-offer of Lough Mahon House, a 7,000sq ft home on 4.7 acres overlooking Cork’s inner harbour and estuary by Douglas/Rochestown.

It had launched at €2.95m (up €600k from a previous listing in 2020) and sold to an international buyer with Cork roots after four viewings, said selling agent Linda O’Donovan of Bowe Property. It made over its asking price, likely to be €3.1m-€3.2m, but its value on one acre will be what makes the Register, with a ‘3’ in front of it.

Making almost double its €1.65m AMV was the Coveney family’s (Patrick and Emma) Silver Apple, an 11-year-old luxury coastal bungalow at Weavers Pint, Crosshaven.

Agents Savills say Silver Apple made just over €3m, to a low-profile overseas buyer with Cork connections. Along with a €1.75m modern five-bed home on five acres at Hilltop, Monkstown, Silver Apple tops Savills’ list of 13 €1m+ sales in 2025 (some detailed below).

They also sold nine new-build homes at Ecklinville, Orchard Road, for prices from €1.265m to €1.642m. Notably, it’s likely that some two dozen new-builds in Cork city and Kinsale have now made over €1m in the past three years: More are to launch in 2026.

Many made millions: Eckilinville, Orchard Road

Hitting an even €3m was Rathclaren House, a fully restored/rebuilt Georgian-rooted beauty at Kilbrittain with sea and Courtmacsherry Bay views.

The rebuilt 4,000sq ft ‘as good as old’ four-bed former glebe dating to the 1820s on five acres made €3m via joint agents Hodnett Forde and Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty to a UK-based purchaser.

Also in 2025, Hodnett Forde and Lisney Sotheby’s IR launched arguably Munster’s best offer of the year/decade, the Disney family’s Coolmain Castle with a €7.5m price guide.

Local sources hint that a deal has been recently agreed on the Disney castle close to €7m to an overseas buyer, but neither agent would comment on these reports.

Coolmain Castle: interest in the Disney family's Cork castle is, eh, 'animated'

Even if it hits €7m, the coastal Cork Disney castle will be dwarfed price-wise in recent years by the River Blackwater’s Ballynatray House, bought by billionaire ‘blow-in’ vacuum designer James Dyson for about €35m, an Irish price record, first exclusively reported in early 2024 in the Irish Examiner. Also

in the ‘historic’ top castle sale stakes was the €5.7m paid in 2019 for Kilfinnan Castle, Glandore. By how much might Coolmain Castle shade that in coming months?

Cork’s handful of €3m sales pales by comparison with Dublin’s 30 making that money and more, while the capital notched up about 60 sales in excess of €2m, with the highest at €9.75m for a seaside villa in south Dublin’s Sandycove, via Sherry FitzGerald.

Cork’s Sandycove wasn’t a slouch either in 2025, with €2.82m paid for a modest cottage by the shingle beach and cliff walkway. That costly cottage near hotspot Kinsale was bought off-market by US billionaire James Berwind, hot on the heels of his €4.99m paid in 2024 for an adjoining dormer bungalow, Valley House, after his 2023 purchase for about €4.75m of the Georgian villa Sprayfield House.

Sprayfield has since been all but fully demolished, now facing a multi-million dollar rebuild and with plans for a leisure centre (pool, padel, and tennis court) on the grounds currently in the planning process and of concern to locals.

Putting the row in millionaire's row? Sandycove, Kinsale

Hardy annual Kinsale provided the largest of Co Cork’s €1m+ sales, 14 in all in the year just ending, and barring Mr Berwind’s €2.82m cottage buy, was topped by the resale of Leighmoney More House upriver of Kinsale at Dunderrow, at about €2.6m via Johnny O’Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald.

Leighmoney More House (aptly named?) shows on the Price Register at €2.45m, but additional land meant the full sale price was higher.

Leighmoney More House, Dunderrow Kinsale made c €2.6m all-in via Sherry FitzGerald's Johnny O'Flynn

Next was Currahoo House on 13 acres with River Bandon views, making €2.5m via Savills, with An Carraig, at the town’s Ramparts also at €2.5m.

Hitting an even €2m was a former county council semi-d — No 9, Fr McSweeney Terrace, Ardbrack, which was extended to become a 2,200sq ft three-bed. It sold via Colliers who previously had been marketing Ballinacurra House in Kinsale.

Four of Kinsale’s €1m+ transactions were done by Engel & Völkers — Mews House, The Paddocks, at €1.485m; Kumbi, Castlepark, at €1.2m; Quebec, Summercove at €1.104m; and 2 Bowling Green, St Johns Hill.

E&V also got €1.76m for a remarkable Caherdaniel property (see page 36) and Savills got €1.4m for Caragh Lake House, a six-bed on 1.3 acres.

The Mill and Barn Rennies Nohoval made €2.25m via Lisney Sotheby's IR

Straddling Kinsale and south/west Cork catchments was the likes of The Mill & Barn at Nohoval — old/modern builds done in 2021 by a wood and beach, making its €2.25m AMV via Lisney Sotheby’s IR within weeks of going to market.

Apart from the likes of Rathclaren House (€3m) and activity on Coolmain Castle (€7m AMV) with Hodnett Forde/Lisney SIR, West Cork had a quieter year than heretofore, with the likes of €1.35m paid for Schull’s Orchard House and €1.305m (off-market) for Casa Dunmanus at Dunkelly, Goleen, both via Charles P McCarthy, who also got €935k for Westerly Lodge, Adrigole.

Near Bandon, Keamagaragh House on 26 acres at Callatrim, made about €1.8m, under its €1.95m AMV, via Hodnett Forde.

Hodnett Forde’s sale of a quality home at Monteen, Ballinascarthy for a deceased internationally famous author shows on the Register at €1.46m — notable for being such a strong sale inland.

Rosscarbery got bidding to the €1m mark on Feora, a beautifully-set dormer home by Warren Strand (not yet on the Register) via joint agents Pat Maguire and Jeremy Murphy while, close to the city Jeremy Murphy had €1m+ sales at Rosevalley House, Rochestown, and Silvergrove, Carrigrohane, both at €1.03m, with end-year bidding also gone over €1m at 39 Heatherfield in Waterfall just west of the city (No 38 Heatherfield made €1.125m in mid-2025 via Frank V Murphy & Co.)

Can you aFord Capri? Capri Lodge made €1.1m via Colbert Auctioneers

2025 was the year when East Cork started to ratchet up the number of €1m+ transactions too, with €1.1m paid for Seaview Stables at East Ferry and €1.1m for Capri Lodge, also via James Colbert in Midleton, who got €875k for an A-rated home Glen Villa in Killeagh — clearly the village’s profile (and, property values?) were boosted by a certain Kingfishr song, Ireland’s top 2025 hit.

RISING on a tide of popularity, seaside village Ballycotton got its first ever €1m transaction, with the well-finished Troy House (its vendor was an interior designer) getting €1.1m via agent Adrianna Hegarty, who then got sale listings at new homes development Ocean Drive, a scheme of 11 A-rated builds at prices from €900,000 to €1.1m with three sales there to date over €1m.

Precious metal? Troy House, Ballycotton fetched €1.1m via Hegarty Property

In Cobh, Sherry FitzGerald got €1.1m for 4 Knockeven in Rushbrooke; Johanna Murphy approached €1m for 4 the Crescent, getting €980,000, and went over the ‘big note’ mark at Waterford’s 9,000sq ft Knock House, Kiltorran, making €1.25m.

Waterford appears to have had a half a dozen €1m+ sales, headed by the cruise-ship-like Gladonia on the Cliff Road Tramore at €2.18m, via Lawrence & McDonald (it originally had a €2.9 AMV), followed by Brentwood in Newtown, Waterford City, at €1.41m to a local businessman via Palmer Auctioneers.

Gladonia, Cliff Road, Tramore made €2.18m via Lawrence & McDonald

Lisney Sotheby’s IR got €995,000 for Larkfield House, Ferrybank.

Moving back from East Cork/Waterford towards Cork city, ERA Downey McCarthy got €1.45m for the wonderful and pristine period Woodview House in Glanmire — and, in the deepest suburbs, ERA got €1.4m for The Poplars at Villa Nova on the Douglas Road.

Woodview House, Glanmire made €1.45m with ERA Downey McCarthy

Also in Glanmire, Savills got about €1.6m for 300-year-old Poulnacurra House with its stunning gardens, while Sherry FitzGerald got €990,000 for Longridge House, Glounthaune.

A five-bed detached house on a half acre at Kilcoolishal, Glounthaune got €1.3m via Barry Auctioneers, who also hit €930k for a four-bed semi-d in Botanika on the Blackrock Road.

On Cork city’s Lower Glanmire Road, the ‘back from the ashes’ River Lee-facing Carrig House made €2.38m in a private sale. Immaculately restored by Linehan Construction, it previously featured extensively here as a work in progress.

Carrig House, Lower Glanmire Road, made €2.38m

In Tivoli Estate, the six-bed An Nead on 0.5 acres fetched about €1.6m, via Savills.

Upriver, by Sunday’s Well, the iconic Red House went over its €1.85m AMV, nearing €2m via Sherry FitzGerald, one of three Sunday’s Well listings they went sale agreed on in 2025, none of them yet on the Price Register.

WestView Red House Sunday's Well fetched c €2m with Sherry FitzGerald

Meanwhile, in a busy year for city sales over €1m, No 3 Annaville (one of ‘the American houses’ on the Western Road) got €1.2m via Savills, who also got about €1.5m for Arden on College Road.

Arden, College Road reached €1.5m with Savills

Several semi-ds topped €1m in 2025, such as 17 Lindville at €1.225m via Cohalan Downing, one of that office’s five €1m+ sales in 2025, with several others at advanced sale status, including one well over €2m. Cohalan Downing got €1.24m for 22 Shrewsbury Downs, the second sale at that level in the Ballinlough Road estate, while Moyard, Woodview, Douglas closed at €1.205m.

The same agents got €1.48m for Clancoole on Bishopstown Avenue, and €1.35m for Invercairn on the Rochestown Road. Also on the Rochestown Road, Sherry FitzGerald got approximately €1.5m for Beechvale Lawn, an early 1900s home on 1.8 acres. On the western fringes, the €1m barrier continues to be surpassed on and past the Model Farm Road, with €1.2m paid for 7 Limeworth and €1.075m for Cherry Lodge in Hillsborough, both also via Sherry FitzGerald.

Top Douglas sale of 2025 was €2.25m for the new build Sans Souci by the Cross Douglas Road, which featured here a year ago as a top deal but only made the Register in January, sold by Patricia Stokes.

Sans Souci, Douglas Road made €2.25m via Patricia Stokes

Trish Stokes also achieved €1.1m for a Douglas Lawn home, and €1.3m for Blair Glaisse in Endsleigh Park. A far larger sale is in the wings in the same cul de sac park, likely to be over €1.5m when revealed in coming months, while the market is also watching the progress of a €2.95m Douglas listing into 2026.

Sherry FitzGerald sold the new build Cuan on Douglas’ Well Road for €1.072m, and got €1.02m for Brook Lodge on Donnybrook Hill.

Ms Stokes also got €1.75m for Sunnyside, 1 Barrington’s Avenue on the Blackrock Road, the highest 2025 price at this traditionally favoured road, one of eight Blackrock sales in excess of €1m in ‘25.

Not far behind, Blackrock’s The Limes, Menloe Gardens made €1.65m via Sherry FitzGerald, and No 20 Janeville fetched €1.52m via James Coughlan Associates.

In Limerick, up to 10 homes appear to have sold for over €1m during 2025, including several in Adare (Station House Adare, a CPO, is listed at €2m). Edgewood on 22 acres made about €1.7m via Sherry FitzGerald, while 9 The Demesne, Adare, closes this month at about €2.6m via Lisney SIR, who also sold Glenwilliam Castle, Limerick, for €950,000.