Good news for buyers with positive signs of new housing on horizon
Supply of new homes in Cork was ahead of the national average in 2024, according to the Construction Industry Federation.The CIF, the representative body for Irish builders, is not alone in welcoming the signs of progress in new home developments.As Elizabeth Hegarty, divisional director, Residential with Savills, notes: “The outlook on supply for the year ahead looks positive, with further phases due to come on stream in current developments ongoing and new developments coming out of the ground.” Elizabeth Hegarty, divisional director, Residential with Savills. She instances Ballyvolane as a very active space with three developments in close proximity, with 66 units gone at Longview since September, with further launches (neighbourhood 2) there soon, coming after 75 units were agreed also at Danesfort, Whites Cross, under both a private and affordable home purchase scheme model. (A new site of 85 affordable purchase 85 homes, Glenbride, on the Old Mallow Road launches soon for Cork City Council and Murnane & O’Shea via Savills).East Cork is busy too, with plenty of developments on the market and more stock coming this year with Clancy Homes now on site in WaterRock, notes Ms Hegarty, with more to come at Blossom Hill. Savills — who had a swift sell-out at Elmbury, Carrigtwohill, last week for Murnane & O’Shea (MOS) — will have a launch with Hallmark Developments in the Rock Gate, Baneshane.West of the city, sales of two-three and four homes will continue in coming weeks at MOS’s Heathfield, Ballincollig, where 70 homes successfully sold under the Affordable Home Purchase Scheme model last year.The average age of buyers now is 30 to 40 years old, and FTBs also spill over strongly into the second-hand market, where Ms Hegarty feels that help-to-buy initiatives could be extended without, she says, overly inflating values: “I feel it wouldn’t necessarily drive the price/bidding further but gives the buyer some more leeway within their own budgets with the rebate available.” Looking ahead, to 2025 and beyond, the market will see apartments rolling out to buyers after initiatives like Croi Conaithe and Project Tosaigh.Danesfort, Whites Cross, Cork, will include homes under both a private and affordable home purchase scheme model. Sherry FitzGerald New Homes director, Paul Hannon, reveals that Glenveagh has a massive marketing campaign about to go live for Blackrock Villas in the city’s settled ‘burbs.Here, in the continuation of the earlier Eden scheme, the first block of 80 one-bed, two-bed and three-bed apartments on the grounds of the old Ursuline Convent will launch.“Prices will be very affordable, so it’s going to be very attractive for FTBs (currently renting) and trade downers,” says Mr Hannon, adding that Glenveagh were delivering this significant volume of a total of 274 apartments in conjunction with the Housing Agency, through the Croi Connaithe fund.Other apartments are to come to the private market at Cairn Homes’ The View, Douglas by Bayly, and activity is also evident in Horgan’s Quay with Clarendon.“These are well needed additions to the Cork market to alleviate the pressure on demand of housing stock and to bring the focus and life back into our city,” states Elizabeth Hegarty of Savills.
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