Back to site

©2024. All rights reserved.
Crafted by 4Property.

Property Viewings During Covid-19: What to Expect

Last month we published a comprehensive list and explanation of the new safety protocols for property viewings – for both buyers and sellers – on our website and you can access these here: https://kinsellaestates.ie/kinsella-estates-new-safety-protocols-for-property/  

It has been a particularly busy month for the Kinsella Estates team since reopening with a number of new listings, you can find full details of all these properties here: https://kinsellaestates.ie/all-properties/  

As confirmed by the Irish Examiner last week, ‘House prices [remained] resilient during the height of Covid-19 ’. Despite the turmoil of the past few months and the physical shutdown of the marketplace, anyone who is currently in the process of buying or selling a property will know that we have now shifted into a new normal. There is no more shaking hands. Social distancing is now the norm, as are latex gloves and masks, where necessary. Our sellers have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure optimum hygiene standards, as our agents have assessed and taken steps to minimise contact for prospective buyers with any surfaces during the course of a viewing. 

This is our new normal. Open viewings are a thing of the past. Everything is scheduled, timed and precision-managed. The use of proptech for remote viewings has gone from novelty to necessity.  

And through all of this, house prices have remained steady, albeit down 2.9% year-on-year.  The latest figures from MyHome.ie might just shed some light on why demand is up in South Wicklow and North Wexford…

In search of the good life

It has been a challenging few months. The shutdown impacted everyone, although not everyone reacted to it in the same way. Some people used this time to carry out much-needed DIY or to learn a new skill, others used it to plan a whole new life for themselves and their families. 

According to property portal MyHome.ie, between March and June of this year searches for cottages were up 45 percent compared with the same period in 2019. Interestingly, searches for rural homes increased 50 percent and farmhouse searches were up 70 percent over this time.

It is now clear that many people living in the capital are rethinking their living situations. Similar to UK trends, people are in search of the good life – a life free of traffic and expensive apartments. And it would appear that the desire for a mortgage-free or low-mortgage lifestyle is driving this, with a seven-fold increase in searches for homes under €100,000.

With working from home now established, many organisations and their workers are seeing this as a viable option for at least some of the working week. So much so that the MyHome.ie data has revealed a spike in property searches for commuter counties. Amongst the most popular search destinations were the counties Wicklow and Wexford, with searches for County Wicklow up 70 percent and searches for County Wexford up a staggering 90 percent!

If you are counted in that 70 percent or 90 percent increase and are looking for a home in South Wicklow or North Wexford, please contact the Kinsella Estates team below.

For your FREE, no obligation, valuation in the South Wicklow and North Wexford area, call into one of our offices (located in Carnew and Gorey) and chat to any of our expert team or you can contact us online at www.KinsellaEstates.ie. We are happy to facilitate overseas buyers and sellers via Skype or similar, outside of regular office hours.  Alternatively, email gorey@kinsellaestates.ie  or telephone: +353 53 94 21718

Privacy Policy

Pagespeed Optimization by Lighthouse.