These are the three priciest Cork towns to buy a home in right now (if you can find one)
Of course, you’d have to find one first.
But if you do manage to nail down a rare property to buy in Kinsale, Ballincollig, or Glanmire, you’ll be paying well over average for the privilege.
With property prices nationally at 2.1% above their highest level at the peak of the property boom in April 2007, Cork buyers shelled out a median price of €317,500 for a dwelling in the 12 months up to June 2023.
In Kinsale however, the median price was €410,000.
Ballincollig buyers paid the second highest median price at €375,000, with the average Glanmire buyer paying €365,000.
Fourth place went to Cork Southside and Carrigaline, which both came in at €355,000 and Clonakilty and Rylane came in fifth.
According to the figures, unveiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) this week, there is some value to be had in Cork’s Northside, where the median price was €252,000, and near the coast; the median price paid in Youghal was €246,000 and in Cobh it was €276,000.
House prices ‘will remain resilient’
“While we are experiencing a period of price stabilisation in the housing markets, we are still seeing average prices across the country continue to tick up,” said Ian Lawlor, MD of Lotus Investment Group.
“This is in spite of significant increases in mortgage rates over the course of the last year.
“Nationally we went from building almost 90,000 housing units a year to less than 30,000 annually, with an annual requirement of between 35,000 to 45,000. There are massive issues, from the availability of construction skills and labour to material cost inflation and the added stresses put on the housing market with the arrival of thousands of Ukrainians displaced by the war.”
The latest Census figures show that in 2022, Ireland’s population exceeded the five million mark for the first time in 171 years.
“Census 2022 figures also show that Ireland’s population is growing at a higher rate than its housing stock is. As a result, all the indications are that house prices will remain resilient,” added Lawlor.
Nationally, the lowest median price for a house in the 12 months to June 2023 was €160,000 in Leitrim and Longford, while the highest median price was €630,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
