Cork’s new homes private sales stronger than reported
There are lies, damn lies, statistics and, sometimes, just plain old errors or erroneous assumptions when assessing the output and activity in Ireland’s housing market. One of these was a claim in online news media that only 30 newly-built houses out of 1,499 new units had sold to private buyers in Cork in 2025: despite being clearly and intuitively wrong, the figure of 30 sales (just 3%) got widespread traction, ignited chat forum threads and debates. And it’s likely some folk still might believe it.Prior to the last election, Government parties got it in the neck for ‘bigging up’ the expected output of homes in 2024: they put it at 40,000, turns out the real figure was closer to 30,000. Even in much-improved 2025, when the country produced 36,000 new builds across all tenure types, Cork city and county alone had a strong Q3 last year, with 1,042 completions, according to the CSO.The online media coverage of the Cork market putting private buyers at just 3% (30) of those who got new homes last year appears to have come came from mixing two data sets; namely CSO data on new dwelling completions nationally and regionally, and comparing these figures to Revenue stamp-duty transaction data (executions).It’s widely appreciated that the Irish housing market has evolved and shifted considerably in the past ten years, with a wider than ever mix of tenure types and purchasers, including Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) local authorities, large scale investors and buy to let funds, with ownership models spanning rentals, cost rentals, affordable purchase schemes/shared equity and the once-traditional straight private buyers. Cork’s spurious 30 sales (3%) to private buyers figures, which have yet to be officially corrected, compared dramatically to 38% for the greater Dublin area and up to and over 50% for the wider commuter belt counties, and compare markedly with 30% in Galway (120 out of 415) and 25% in Waterford.Nationally, first-time buyers purchased 7,544 new homes in the year to end December 2025, an increase of almost 24% year-on-year, according to the Department of Housing, indicating Cork’s first-time buyer and private buyer segment had to be in the many hundreds of units.Commenting also, Paul Hannon, director and head of Sherry FitzGerald New Homes Munster, told the Irish Examiner: “We handed over 171 new homes across Arderrow in Ballyvolane, Ballinglanna in Glanmire and Millboro in Kerry Pike alone last year. All to individual buyers.” (Three-beds at Arderrow sell for €427,500 and upwards).The figure for a wider variety of new homes schemes into and across the county as well as in the expanded city would have meant hundreds more private sales, with another national agency, Savills, also reporting very strong sales in 2025, over 400 sales completions in Cork. That 400 was up 50% on the previous year for Savills in Cork, with strong uptake in locations like Cairn Homes’ Bayly in Douglas, Mallow and Longview, Ballyvolane (two-beds in the latter from €335,000, three-beds from €415,000).As Ballyvolane’s Longview gets increased focus (recently visited by Tánaiste Simon Harris), “Savills have secured in excess of 160 sales in the last 18 months in Longview with huge progress and output being achieved on site,” adds Adrianna Hegarty, owner/director Hegarty Properties. Adding to the mix of buyers is the rapid expansion of offers under Affordable Home Purchase Scheme (shared equity with local authorities), with Savills involved in three (e.g. Glenbride in Kilnap}. Suzanne Tyrrell, director with estate agents Cohalan Downing. Suzanne Tyrrell, director with Cohalan Downing, adds: “In recent times, all but one new homes scheme I have sold in or around Cork City territory has been for the Council in the Affordable Housing Scheme.”
