Earlier this week, the Department of Housing published new draft guidelines for apartment developments and the reaction has been mixed, at best.  The headlines ran with announcements that car parking will no longer be a requirement, also, more apartments per floor area will be allowed.

Understandably, home buyers were quite panicked by the news, however, just to reassure buyers in Wicklow and Wexford, car parking has only been done away with in areas with good public transport connectivity  – we don’t need to worry about that for the moment, unfortunately.

The rationale behind the move is to make apartment building more cost-effective, which is hoped will speed up the supply of new homes to the market right across the country and to make those new homes more affordable for intending buyers.

While more homes will be allowed in a single development, these are likely to be smaller as the market is apparently demanding more studio and one bed apartments.

One of the other interesting concepts introduced is called ‘shared living’.  This essentially provides for people having their own en-suite bedroom and then sharing kitchen and living space.  This is already being done for student accommodation, costing up to €1,000 per month in Dublin, Cork and Galway.  The important thing to realise is that we are not talking about going backwards to bedsit-living in damp, old period houses; these co-living spaces are state-of-the-art, beautifully designed homes for people who are renting or, potentially, buying at the lower end of the market.  The driving force is to offer greater choice, which is something that we do not have much of in the current market.  We tend to go between two-bed apartments in the city, to three-bed semis in the suburbs and then dormers dotted around the countryside.  Buyer demographics are changing, in fact, I would go further to say that buyers themselves are changing.  People want choice and they need an option that suits their particular stage in life. Not every thirty-something year old wants to rent but yet might not be ready for a three-bed semi-detached house in suburbia!  Also, reports last week revealed that divorce in Ireland has increased 25% over the past three years.  One of the explanations for this is that middle-class people can now afford to separate, whereas, this was simply not an option in the early stages of our economic recovery.  This is representative of a new type of long-term tenant and a new type of buyer who requires a smaller, more affordable type of living arrangement.  As society changes, our housing stock must change to fit the needs of modern living – of course, planning should really be a step ahead in pre-empting and providing for those changing housing needs.

Just to let people know, these new guidelines are in draft only.  There will be a public consultation period from January for people to contribute their opinions before the changes are incorporated into the Ireland 2040 National Planning Framework/NPF. As a nation, we tend to give out about planners quite a bit so maybe now is a good time to get involved with the decision-making and have our say heard.

If you are considering selling in the South Wicklow and North Wexford areas, 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 kinsellaestates.ie. We are happy to facilitate overseas buyers and sellers via Skype or similar, outside of regular office hours.

Alternatively, email me directly on michael@kinsellaestates.ie or telephone : +353 53 94 21718

The latest round of Irish residential property price changes has just issued from the Central Statistics Office, or CSO, and the trend from the last few months continues.  While average prices nationally are up 11.6% year on year, prices outside of Dublin are growing at a faster rate than they are around the capital.  The breakdown is as follows: property prices throughout the rest of Ireland (i.e. not including Dublin) were 11.8% higher in the 12 months to June, with the increase for Dublin 11.1%.  This puts annual inflation at 11.6%, which is the fastest pace in two years.

When we look further into those average figures, it appears that the South East region (including Wicklow and Wexford) showed the greatest house price growth with an increase of 16.7% – almost double that of the Mid West and significantly above Dublin rises.

In terms of recovery, prices in the South East region have increased in excess of 50%  since the recovery began in 2012/2013; however, they remain approximately 35% below peak/2007 prices.  RTE and Irish Times commentary on current Irish house price inflation attributes the pick-up to “the robust economic recovery”, increased mortgage lending, relaxation of the Central Bank deposit rules for home buyers and the Help-to-Buy (HTB) scheme – which, incidentally is under review and in threat of being axed.

If all this talk about rising house prices locally has made you think about selling, you might be interested in the following article:  How to Know When it’s the Right Time to Sell

If you are considering selling in the South Wicklow and North Wexford areas, 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 kinsellaestates.ie.  We are happy to facilitate overseas buyers and sellers via Skype or similar, outside of regular office hours.

 Alternatively, email me directly on michael@kinsellaestates.ie or telephone : +353 53 94 21718       

Property Returns

Property Expo 2016 returned to the RDS, Dublin for the first time in almost a decade and the team here at Kinsella Estates were delighted to showcase the best of Wicklow and Wexford properties.  I was delighted to be invited to speak on the New Homes panel discussion, where we talked about the challenges facing the New Homes market – for both the developers and the buyers – and how best to address these challenges.  At a time when supply is seriously low in most areas, it was great to bring two new developments to the show:

Gleann an Ghairdin, Ballytegan, Gorey, Co. Wexford

And

Riverchapel Wood, Courtown, Co. Wexford

Budget ’17 has brought new homes back to the attention of first-time buyers with the announcement of the new grant/tax rebate but investors and AHBs (Approved Housing Bodies) are all struggling to get their hands on properties at the moment so this is something that we will be talking about a lot over the next 12 months.

The ‘Help-to-Buy’ scheme for first-time buyers really does not go far enough to help, particularly when you consider that the problem is lack of supply.  In other parts of the country, there does not appear to be much goods news on th etopic of new homes but here in South Wicklow and across Wexford, we can see that the market is moving on.  We are speaking to developers about bringing new housing stock to the market and development sites are under consideration.

We will bring you details of new developements as they are announced and as they launch, but in the meantime, do let us know about potential development sites you might wish to bring to the market.  We know the area, we know who is looking for property and, most importantly, we understand local property values.

For specific queries or to speak with a local property expert about your buying and selling needs in Wexford, Wicklow and surrounding areas, contact myself (Michael), Alan or Eileen Kinsella at kinsellaestates.ie  or email me directly on michael@kinsellaestates.ie and telephone: +353 53 94 21718