This article is from page 2 of the 2011-08-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
HOUSE hunters in Clare can now buy a house for less than it costs to build.
The staggering fall in property values in the county has left houses changing hands at 1990 prices, property insiders say.
According to the Residential Property Price Index results, released by the Central Statistics Office last week, property prices outside of Dublin have fallen by 13 per cent in the last year.
According to Ennis auctioneer, Diarmuid McMahon, this is the most accurate picture yet of what is happening in Clare. “House prices in Clare have fallen to sub-construction levels. From a buyers perpective, that’s fantastic news.”
The Sherry Fitzgerald auctioneer said that it is now also cheaper to take out a mortgage on a property in Clare than to rent one. “Rents in Ennis have stabalised but with quailty rental stock availability low.” he said.
“Buying hasn’t been this afford- able in a decade. We’re back to 1990 prices.”
McMahon said that a three bed semi-detaached home in a desireable area in Ennis can now be had for as little as € 150,000. Ghost estates aside, a squeeze on stock of houses may be on the cards he predicted.
“With prices such that it costs more to build than the builder will get when a house is sold, then no-one is going to build new estates.”
The CSO index is a welcome addition to the store of information available to those involved in prop- erty deals, but there is also a pressing need for a property sale price index, McMahon said.
“This is a much more accurate picture of what’s happening in the market than any of the property web-sites. But we need to know what properties are selling for so that people know what their property is worth.
“In the UK, if your neighbour sells his house you can go to a website and see what was paid for it, Here, unless there is a public auction, we are not allowed to say what price was paid for a particular property.”