Encouraging start to 2017 with plenty of buyers

DEMAND for residental property exceeds the supply in County Wexford, and properties in all the main towns are being quickly sold, according to county auctioneers.

Colum Murphy, managing director Kehoe and Associates, said the company had had a very busy January and certainly a very encouraging start to 2017, there are plenty of buyers out there at the moment.

‘All the signs are positive for the year ahead,’ he said.

Mr Murphy said the average asking price of a house in County Wexford was €176,000 with town properties very much in demand across the county.’

‘Retail is looking good. Rents are slightly increasing and rents are slightly increasing and the yield from commercial properties is slightly reducing, with very positive signs for the capital values,’ said Mr Murphy.

He said vacancy rates are reducing on the main street in Wexford. Mr Murphy said he had just agreed a deal with a major Irish chain for a new shop promises on the main street, however, he declined to say which company was involved or where it be would located because the agreement was still at an early stage.

Asked whether Brexit meant fewer buyers from the UK in the local market, Mr Murphy said the major impact of Brexit would be on the agri sector.

‘Forty one per cent of all Irish food and drink goes to the UK and whatever the fallout of the negotiations, that’s going to have a huge impact on the sector and put downward pressure on land prices this year,’ he said.

Mr Murphy said that nationally there are the lowest number of properties for sale in the country since 2007 and ‘ that’s a significant statistic’.

‘Localised to County Wexford in the last two motnhs of 2016 there were 220 property sales registered on the property price register; in the last two months of 2015 there were 335, which is a reduction of a third and that’s purely down to supply.

‘But things are moving forward with the residential market and I would expect a lot more activity on that front at the back half of this year,’ said Mr Murphy.

Adrian Haythornthwaite, from Sherry Fitzgerald Haythornthwaite, said there was vibrant interest in Wexford and houses generally.

‘ The property market is going from strength to strength. A few short years ago in County Wexford there were only 700 residential sales and this has risen to 1,600 in 2015, a similar number in 2016 and all of our indicators suggest that this is going to continue into 2017 and beyond.

‘Whilst the naysayers would suggest the Brexit and Trump effects will have a negative effect on market activity, that certainly hasn’t happened yet on our watch.

‘More and more we are finding people looking for the lifestyle that Wexford offers. Their most important concern when they are looking at a house is the broadband speed as this affects everything they do,’ said Mr Haythornthwaite.

‘ The difference between this and some years ago, is they are now talking about working from home whereas previously this was coming from the retirement sector,’ he said.

Jim Kinsella, from Sherry Fitzgerald O’Leary Kinsella, said there had been a dramatic improvement in the market over the past 12 months.

‘My office is based in Gorey and we have offices in Enniscorthy as well and there has been an increase in demand both in the north and the south of the county,’ he said.

Mr Kinsella some of that demand had been met by new housing developments in Gorey and Enniscorthy, which had given more supply into the market because stock is an issue.

He said that there were signs that after a big fall off in the numbers of buyers from the UK, following the Brexit referendum, the market was coming back.

Another positive factor in the county further down the road was the improving road infrastructure, the Enniscorthy and the New Ross Bypasses due to make a big impact when they were completed.