The UK-based
buying boom in Ireland is gathering pace thanks to the strength of sterling,
according to Real Estate Alliance who held a successful Irish Property
Exhibition in London last weekend.
REA members
were delighted with the success of the Campaign promoting the exhibition at the
Millennium Gloucester Hotel and Conference Centre in central London. The
campaign attracted a large volume of inquiries in advance, during and post with
over 90% of whom were potential cash purchasers.
“Our agents
were really pleased to talk with so many quality cash buyers over the course of
the campaign and they expect those conversations to very quickly convert into
sales,” said REA Chief Executive Philip Farrell.
“Many of
those UK buyers have already made plans to travel to Ireland to view their
potential properties.
A survey of
REA members shows that enquiries from the UK have increased by 13% on average
to agents outside of Dublin in the past two months.
And there
has been a corresponding 25% annual increase in enquiries about Real Estate
Alliance properties listed on top UK site rightmove.co.uk.
“Conversations with attendees showed that the
vast majority of them were committed to buying in Ireland, with over half of
them aiming to spend between €100,000 and €200,000,” said Philip Farrell.
“The average
UK home now costs €236,635 whereas in Ireland it is close to €180,000, and the
strength of sterling is magnifying this.
“UK buyer
interest is manifesting itself differently to the existing Irish market in a
number of ways, with big surges in interest in many undervalued rural counties
and also scenic and coastal locations.
“This
presents many vendors with the opportunity of achieving better prices due to
interest outside of the normal marketplace.
“Rural properties
in the UK cost an average of €67,000 more than urban properties – quite the
opposite of the Irish market.
“UK buyers
are being priced out of rural properties in their own country, so for many
their only chance of an ‘escape to the country’ is a move to our country.
“We are also
seeing interest from UK investors who are priced out of their own market and
feel that they have reached the top of their curve and are looking for capital
growth and yield in Ireland.” Their
partner at the event included Smart
Currency http://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/
Real Estate
Alliance (REA) is Ireland’s leading property group of Chartered Surveyors with
over 55 branches nationwide, comprising many of the country’s
longest-established auctioneers and estate agents.
Available
for interview:
Philip
Farrell, CEO Real Estate Alliance
086 250 3515
/ philip@realestatealliance.ie
For further
information on exhibition contact:
Eimer
O’Keefe, Real Estate Alliance
086 8249040
/ eimer@realestatealliance.ie
Media
information:
Darren
Hughes, MediaConsult 086 2937037 / darren@mediaconsult.ie
