Hermitage Farm set to be next top model estate on Model Farm Road

Homes at the new, upmarket scheme will range in price from €850k - €1.2m

Finishes touches being applied at Hermitage Farm, Model Farm Road's newest upmarket scheme

Model Farm Road, Cork city
€850k - €1.2m
Size	170 sq m - 233 sq m
Bedrooms	4 / 5
Bathrooms	4 / 5
BER	A2

IT WAS the talk of the town back in the early noughties when Ruden Homes shelled out €4.5m for 4.5 acres off Model Farm Rd.

Dubbed “Cork’s first €1m-an-acre field”, it proved to be a savvy move for builder/developer John Deane.

By 2006, just two years after launching the 34-home Hayfield scheme that he built on the record-breaking land, prices had soared from around €725,000 for a large, five-bed detached, to €1.3m — more cause for much more talk in town.

These days, €1m+ house sales on Model Farm Rd are increasingly commonplace.

There have been nine since the start of 2025, compared to just six for the entire 10-year period 2010-2020, as per the Property Price Register.

And while a fair few sales were of the large individual homes with very generous gardens that we traditionally associate with Model Farm Rd, some were newer estate homes on much smaller plots, in the likes of upmarket Vailima at the city end of Model Farm Rd, where the top price paid to date is €1.32m — with a similar peak reached at next-door Merton, another des-res niche development. Closer to the latest scheme, Hermitage Farm ,the top price paid at Rosefield, a seven-year-old, 19-home development on former Nangle Nurseries land, was €891,000, in 2019.

Bird's eye view of Hermitage Farm

All of this bodes well for Ruden Homes, who have returned to Model Farm Rd after a 25-year hiatus to deliver Hermitage Farm.

Construction only started 12 months ago, but the homes have flown up and joint selling agents Cohalan Downing and Savills already have “a healthy list” of potential buyers.

Like Hayfield in its day, Hermitage Farm is a stylish looking-scheme.

Homes have the top tier energy credentials you would expect in a modern build (BER is A2) , while at the same time having a timeless, classical external look — a blend of redbrick and limestone, with double-glazed casement and sash windows throughout.

Redbrick and limestone made an attractive combination

“They are very elegant-looking homes, where you will see regency details not seen in other new developments, while at the same time they are super-modern builds,” says Suzanne Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing.

The scheme will deliver 33 homes in total, with 15 in the first phase, including 11 detached and four four-bed semis.

Prices start at €850,000 for the latter (170 sq m), rising to €1.2m for the largest properties — the 233 sq m detached five-beds.

Elizabeth Hegarty, of Savills, expects the buyer profile to be dominated by families trading up, as well as relocators.

A Computer generated image of one house type as the finished product

Both agents say the market is tight when it comes to high-end family homes.

“There’s a lot of competition in the second-hand market, and the supply is very low. Developments like this one are in high demand,” the agents say, adding that demand is particularly strong in a location like Model Farm Rd, with its proximity and excellent transport links to UCC, MTU, the Bon Secours Hospital, and Cork University Hospital.

Indeed it’s an area traditionally favoured by medics, thanks to easy travel via the South Link road network into west-of-city hospital campuses.

Meanwhile Ballincollig town centre and its regional park are just minutes east by car.

Buyers at Hermitage Farm will have a range of house types to choose from. The bulk are two-storey homes, with some three-storey options.

Layouts vary, but all have rear porcelain tiled patios accessed via sliding double doors.

All have rear lawns and front driveways are cobble locked.

Hermitage Farm, with Rosefield across the road, to the right

PC allowances range from €28,000 to €40,0000.

VERDICT: Expect a discriminating vein of buyer at this high-spec scheme, where homes are spacious, bright and well-ventilated, with heating via air source heat pump, and underfloor heating at ground level. All the mod-cons in a location that well-heeled buyers flock to.