While the popularity of golf has been in decline globally over recent years, the unwelcome arrival of the coronavirus could prove to be the catalyst for renewed demand for properties located on or near golf resorts.
And while the standing of the sport itself may have hit the reputational rough here at home thanks to the recent exploits of the Oireachtas Golf Society, Sean Hyett, analyst at Savills' world research division, believes that both golf and golf properties "stand to benefit from the changes in habits and the desire for a better balance between work and life as a result of the pandemic."
On this, Hyett says: “As people look to increasingly work remotely, and commute less, golf is an appealing and safe way for many to spend their leisure time, while properties on golf resorts offer what many are now looking for.”
That would certainly appear to be case at the K Club in Kildare where Ireland's former EU commissioner Phil Hogan has his apartment. The sale of several properties in Ladycastle and Ryder Cup Village have been agreed since the country moved to the first phase of easing Covid-19 restrictions last May.
In the case of one property, number 943 Ladycastle, K Club specialists French Estates say they managed to secure a buyer for the three-bedroom golf lodge priced at €450,000 within 48 hours of the lockdown being lifted, and at a higher price than had been offered pre-Covid-19.
More recently, the same agent agreed the sale of No 923 Ladycastle, a three-bedroom detached house with garage extending to 256 sq m ( 2,765sq ft). The property, which had been guiding at a price of € 690,000, attracted strong interest from several potential purchasers according to selling agent John Bosco French.
An examination of the Property Price Register shows that the sale of five K Club properties have taken place since the beginning of this year, with three of those completed in the post-lockdown period.
Numbers 712 and 748 Ryder Cup Village were sold in January for € 460,000 and € 420,000 each, while numbers 932, 833 and 928 Ladycastle changed hands in June, July and August for € 560,000, € 277,533 and € 540,000 respectively.
