New Homes: Sales steadily rising nationwide, Munster notably strong
“Prices have been creeping up over the year and a buyer focus on affordability is now becoming evident. For example, people who would have gone for a 4-bedroom before are now going for a 3-bedroom house,” say estate agents.
Sales of new homes are on the increase across the country, with many agents in Munster reporting a clear numerical effect in the last six months or so.
“We’ve had a very busy year,” says Elizabeth Hegarty, Associate Director at Savills New Homes in Cork. “We’ve had some schemes coming to an end but more of them coming to market, so it’s been a very busy year for us, to be honest. We’re probably going to end up north of 300 sales of new homes this year, I would say.
“We’ve had some very exciting schemes, Bayly being a big one out in Douglas. That was a great one to get out of the traps with and we’ve got a continuation of existing schemes as well as other ones launching, such as Long View in Ballyvolane. The first neighbourhood there will have over 100 houses and there will be 750 units in total.
“Prices have been creeping up over the year and a buyer focus on affordability is now becoming evident. For example, people who would have gone for a 4-bedroom before are now going for a 3-bedroom house.”
The use of the Government schemes — namely the Help To Buy and the First Home Scheme — have been coming into play more and more in New Homes purchase, she adds.
“In terms of new homes sales, we’re at about 1,400 sales,” says Paul Hannon, Director at Sherry Fitzgerald New Homes in Cork. “And of that figure, we’d be up to 350 sales in Cork alone. We’ve had a very big year to date and could be close to 500 by the year end, based on where we’re at at the moment.”
By way of comparison with 2023, he says, the company registered 275 sales for the whole of last year.
“There is good choice for consumers out there as well,” says Paul. “We’ve a number of big developments ongoing: we have the tail end of Ballinglanna, a big scheme in Ballyvolane, another big scheme in Midleton — Lakeview… a smaller scheme in Millboro in Kerry Pike for example. And we’re hoping to get planning permission for another scheme in Dunkettle very soon. There are big numbers with that one — it could be 500 to 600 in the first phase.”
The agent also mentions the fact that the building landscape is changing, with a number of towns getting housing schemes where they wouldn’t have been getting them before. A couple of new schemes coming onstream in Bandon is an example of this — a key town in County Cork with its position close to the city and as a gateway to the west.
The supply of houses remains an issue and it will remain difficult for the next number of years. The target this year was of the order of 40,000 homes, after almost 33,000 completions in 2023.
This is well below a level that will make a breakthrough in terms of good supply and the final county by the end of the year will be short of that, but it is a welcome increase nonetheless and it’s making its effect felt.
“It’s all very well that the Taoiseach is saying he hopes to have 40,000 houses built this year… I would think, looking at the marketplace, that if we ended up at the same level as last year, we’d be doing very well,” says Pat Davitt, CEO of IPAV (Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers). “Even at that though, you’re looking at a hell of a lot of houses. 35,000 houses a year is still a lot of houses.
“Another very encouraging thing is that there are a lot of houses now being used that weren’t being used — and that’s right throughout the country. I know from talking to agents and from what I observe myself going around, there are quite a few of them.”
It is also encouraging, he says, to see developments happening in towns where there had been a dearth of such housebuilding for several years; slowly transforming the lives of those living there.
“The First Homes Scheme has been a help to all of that,” says Pat. “It has bridged the gap for lots of people, allowing them to get a mortgage where they couldn’t beforehand.”
“It’s been the busiest that I have seen in the last six months,” says Rachael O’Leary, Associate Director of Shery Fitzgerald New Homes in Cork, “and I’ve been in the New Homes business for over eleven years… Stock is still an issue, of course. The First Home Scheme is definitely catching on.
"It’s very much out there in the ether and it seems to be used very well, which is brilliant. But it has been the busiest time in a long while in terms of stock coming to the market and that’s down to the changes in development land contributions that came into play last year.”
