Hybrid work drives appetite for new housing in East Cork

East Cork's many appeals include rich agricultural land, a sandy shoreline and the beauty of Cork habour, plus quaint coastal villages and architecturally impressive towns

Carrigtwohill, where industry developments will include significant new housing. Pic: Dan Linehan

A demographic bulge, net inward migration, returning Irish expats and work from home options for relocators from Dublin, London, the Middle and Far East and North America and elsewhere are (as elsewhere) helping underpin the strength of the East Cork property market.

A recent MyHome.ie has reported findings of 26,200 mortgage drawdowns in 2024, which was the highest since 2007 — even as new home completions for last year at just over 30,000, according to the Central Statistics Office, fell below the Government target and are still proving laggardy coming towards the mid-point of 2025.

Belvelly bridge near Fota wildlife park. Population growth will require another bridge in this area.

Though mover activity has softened of late, with drawdowns down 20% on pre-Covid levels, Midleton estate agent Adrianna Hegarty notes: ”We’re seeing this gap partially filled by returning expats and hybrid-working professionals relocating from Dublin and beyond.”

Despite more properties being listed online, available stock is still down year-on-year, and most homes are achieving 10–15% above asking, Adrianna adds, with the rise of green mortgages (tied to BERs of B3 or better) has notably shifted buyer preferences, such that homes with B and A-BER’s “are being fast-tracked by mortgage lenders and buyers alike, commanding strong interest due to their energy upgrades, comfort levels, and their long-term savings potential.”

The rich agricultural land base of East Cork, and long and often sandy shoreline with dramatic headlands and hidden coves, along with toes in the water at Cork habour, coastal villages and architecturally impressive towns like Cobh on Great Island, mean a wide variety of properties available for home hunters — from brand new and future-proofed A-rated new builds, to and modern family homes, ranches and rural bungalows, townhouses and terraces, humble cottages to historic period houses and farms (land value are hitting €20k an acre for good land), as well as one-of-a-kind lifestyle properties worth digging out and relocating to (case in point? Hegarty Properties’ listing of an old boathouse on the secondary pier in Ballycotton, a stone, arched ruin with a €70,000 AMV on launch.

Haulbowline, an island with strong naval history and shipbuilding, one of many centres of employment in East Cork. Pic: Chani Anderson

Despite — or indeed perhaps because of — effectively being a cul de sac with the next stop being the ocean, Ballycotton is becoming an East Cork lifestyle outlier (see also this weekend’s Property & Home pages) with an appeal to match almost any West Cork coastal community: expect the ripples to spread to the likes of Shangarry, Aghada and Youghal in coming years as remote-hybrid working continues to hold appeal in a post-pandemic period, when lifestyle, and access to natural amenities, beaches, woods and rivers as well as to locations of sports, greenways and hobbies has moved up the wish-list scale.

East Cork picks up its pace as soon as you leave wooded Tivoli and the Dunkettle interchange (a big O’Flynn Group residential scheme at Dunkathel House will draw even more to the charms of the east), starting at Little Island, passing Great Island (Cobh) and on to Capel Island in Youghal.

Little Island alone has over 1,000 businesses, and after the delivery of several new business parks in the past five years is likely to now see employment at up to 10,000 persons, with major investment by the likes of Eli Lilly, Cara Partners and Pepsi, with many working there able to buy homes and live in and around East Cork, at locations like market town Midleton (as well as the home of major employer Irish Distillers) back with a bang after floods two years ago, Carrigtwohill, the harbour hinterland, as well as Glounthaune and that Great Island, Cobh. 

An O’Flynn Group residential scheme at Dunkathel House will draw a lot of people towards the east of Cork. The Georgian mansion set in 59.4 hectares (146 Acres) at the north eastern entrance to Cork City.

International buyers “have been buying in Cobh solidly for the last three years, and particularly in the last six months,” says agent Johanna Murphy who says sales (and, increasingly) prices have been strong since the start of this year too.

“Normally they have a connection with Cobh, or they just want to retire here,” she says. “They are buying houses from €250,000 up to €1.5m, and even commercial property where they can get a return.

“There are hidden gems in Cobh, period homes that have been in families for generations and again when they do come up for sale they attract international buyers as they are so rare to come by, and of course the views over Cork harbour are some of the best in the country.”

As ever, the harbour is a key performer for the wider Cork and indeed Munster area, for shipping, industry, lifestyle and tourism, increasing as a residential option too …. while an urgency to be addressed clearly now is the need for a second bridge access to Cobh/Great Island to supplement the venerable arched one to be found at Belvelly, as well as the cross-river ferry and the thankfully retained and vastly enhanced rail line, as pretty a journey as any on this entire island.