Quick sales and rising prices clearly evident in Co Cork property market

Property prices are not only rising in county towns in Cork at a faster rate than in Cork city but what is most striking is the speed with which properties are now selling, according to a leading auctioneer in one West Cork town.

House prices in Skibbereen have gone up around 5 per cent since June, in keeping with the most recent CSO figures, says Maeve McCarthy of Charles McCarthy Estate Agents and Auctioneers.

But according to Ms McCarthy, the most striking feature of the evolving property market isn’t the fact that most properties are achieving their asking price and a little more but rather the speed with which properties are selling once they are put on the market.

“The actual speed of sale is the most striking thing about the current trends - before it could take several months to sell something around Skibbereen but now places are selling within weeks - sometimes they are even going sale agreed within two or three weeks which is the biggest change.”

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She instanced the case of a two bedroom cottage with a nice garden just outside the town which went on the market on August 19th with an asking price of €265,000 but has just gone sale agreed for €300,000 within effectively six weeks.

“There is a real variety among the buyers - some are people who are originally from Skib and are moving back, people are who looking to move out of the city and then there people who are living and renting here already but are looking to buy their first home.”

But if the experience on the ground in Skibbereen tallies with what the CSO are reporting, Mallow auctioneer, Mary O'Callaghan of SOC Properties is somewhat perplexed by the suggestion that Mallow is bucking the national trend with an 8per cent drop in prices from June 2020 to June 2021.

Ms O’Callaghan says she has seen no evidence of such a slide in prices with houses in the North Cork town with Covid 19 and people’s desire to work remotely, people having greater savings due to the pandemic and a shortage of supply all leading to prices going on an upward trajectory.

“I can’t understand where they are getting their figures for Mallow - - what we are seeing is a steady increase in prices since 2018 - we recently sold a four bedroom semi-d in a good area for €270k - we would have been selling that type of house in 2013 for 127k.”

She too suggests prices have been boosted by the level of competition among “a real mix of buyers” including Irish people seeking to move home from abroad.