Now wealthy Irish Americans look to luxury property here as dollar soars
WEALTHY Americans are increasingly buying up properties here priced at €1m and more as the strength of the dollar gives them more bang for their buck to invest in luxury second homes.
Estate agents are reporting that older US citizens in particular are taking advantage of the strong dollar to buy upmarket properties, especially on the west coast.
Aside from the currency advantage, industry experts say many cash-rich Americans are attracted to relative political stability and the high quality of education Ireland offers. And in a reflection of the deepening global climate crisis, one estate agent said the country’s usually drab oceanic climate is also regarded as a pull.
Maeve McCarthy, director of Charles McCarthy Estate Agents in west Cork, said she has seen an increase of 50% to 60% of Americans looking to buy.
She said of the demand: ‘It slightly increased last year and there was limited interest for years but in the last five months it’s just taken off.’
She said typical US clients are older people looking for second homes, mostly in the €1m-plus price range.
‘That’s really been driven by the dollar being so strong, especially in homes in the €1mplus bracket,’ she told the Irish Mail on Sunday. ‘They’re our predominant purchasers at the moment.’
James Butler, head of Country Homes at Savills, said the number of Americans visiting the company’s website has recently rocketed by 87%.
He said: ‘There’s no doubt that there’s been a noticeable increase in enquiries, viewing requests and offers coming from US-based buyers. They typically have some form of Irish heritage.
‘For country properties, pretty consistently between 30% and 45% of transactions are to international buyers. For the prime sector, in excess of €1m, that tends to be closer to 50%. The 87% increase in US visitors to the Savills website is perhaps not solely but certainly largely down to the exchange rate.’
He noted the profile of buyers in the housing market has changed in recent years, with strong demand from younger people in the tech industry.
‘The Irish economy and the fact that the tech sector is playing such a strong part in its success, and its connections with the tech sector in the US is also having an impact,’ he said.
Owen O’Reilly, founder and managing director of Owen
O’Reilly Estate Agents, said one in five of his clients at the moment are Americans.
He said: ‘What we have noticed in recent weeks is that people who had enquired and maybe visited properties are now buying. We’ve also noticed that
some clients who have children in university here, and instead of renting they’re now buying.
‘The people we’ve seen being the most active are Irish people living in America who are very familiar with the market here. They’re taking advantage as well. They’re probably the one biggest trend that I’ve noticed, Irish people buying with dollars.’
He said the some are looking to move back across the Atlantic to make the most of calmer weather and to escape political instability.
‘Private education here is way better value than in America. Political stability, some clients are concerned about how divided American society is at the moment. The third reason, and you might laugh at this, is the climate,’ Mr O’Reilly said.