Inside the multi-million euro sales of luxury Irish…

Inside the multi-million euro sales of luxury Irish country homes and who is buying them

New data has revealed 2022 was a bumper year for the sales of luxury Irish country homes, with 130 deals worth €198 million.

Property advisor Savills Ireland used the Property Price Register to find out what they are going for and who is buying them.

Irish prime country homes are defined as transactions greater than €1 million and located outside of Dublin, the major regional cities and north Wicklow.

Last year, 130 of these homes were bought - an extraordinary increase of 51% on the 2021 figures.

The average value of these purchases was €1.5 million. International buyers accounted for 43% of the sales and 90% of purchasers were cash buyers.

The county of Cork was the most popular location, accounting for 28% of all sales, while the second, third and fourth most popular locations were Kildare, Wicklow, and Waterford.

Explaining who is snapping up these luxury properties, James Butler, Head of Country Agency at Savills Ireland commented: “International buyers remain a key demographic in the prime segment of the market, especially those with more significant links to Ireland. They tend to be Irish nationals who now live abroad and want properties close to where they grew up, or international buyers brought up abroad who want a connection to family roots.

“For US-based buyers in particular, the strength of the dollar has driven demand – and with that, we’ve witnessed an 87% increase in US visitors to the Savills.ie website over the past 6 months.”

The strong dollar, which effectively discounts prices paid in euros, is a factor that may encourage buyers, he added.

Mr Butler also cited remote working as one of the drivers behind the increase in purchases.

“Prime country homes continue to be in strong demand as remote or flexible working is now a viable working pattern for many. Furthermore, buyers in this segment of the market are likely to be in more senior positions so are granted more flexibility in how they allocate time between the office and working from home.

“Changes to where and how people work have made country living more viable for these more established workers who may not be required to be in the office all the time. This helps explain the extraordinary boost in sales volumes witnessed in 2022 and is likely to be a feature of the prime country homes market this year and beyond,” he said.

Meanwhile, commenting on the popularity of Cork homes, Catherine McAuliffe, Director of Savills Cork said: “The coastal town of Kinsale on the southern coast of Cork was the country's most popular towns in this housing market segment, making up 9% of transactions. Kerry has been another very popular destination where buyers from US and Germany have been extremely active.”