Covid-19 Bounce – Enniscorthy Property Market Update

To say that the Enniscorthy market has defied all predictions would be an understatement. Recently the ESRI reported that they expected a 10 to 12% reduction in prices once businesses etc opened but of course this could not be further from the truth. We are seeing a very buoyant market with sales on the scale not seen since 2017 when prices were increasing month on month.

In our office alone in June 2019 we sale agreed seven properties while in June of this year we nearly doubled that figure sale agreeing 13 properties in total. Again, if you even look at 2018, we sale agreed just six properties. Properties that have been on the market for a while where interest levels were low are also now starting to see interest with even some of these properties having two to three bidders. Viewings are also on the up, with 68 viewings recorded in 2019 with an increase to 117 viewings for 2020 in June.

In a recent Sherry FitzGerald press release, it was reported that property prices have remained broadly stable with property prices increasing ever so slightly in the past 6 months by 0.1%. This is in line with what we are seeing in Enniscorthy whereas I reported last month, prices have remained stable and are holding their value well.

While of course the big question, is this just a covid-19 bounce? All indications are that this could last as the number of new/second-hand properties coming on to the market in the Enniscorthy area is still relatively low. This of course in turn means that there will be less properties for any purchasers and should mean that prices should relatively be steady going forward towards the end of the year.

Now that we are halfway through the year it would be interesting to compare how may properties were sold in the Enniscorthy area when compared with 2019. If you check the property price register, house sale completions are nearly half of what they were in the first half of 2019 of course not accounting for the little activity from March to the end of May but now that has changed now as with recent surge in house sales, the second half of this year should outperform last years house sales by a significant margin within the Enniscorthy district.

So, what has been the most significant house price bracket within our own sales? What is surprising with the pie chart is the activity in the 200k to 249k which accounted for 25% of all our sales. Of course, the 100k to 149k still has the highest percentage but what the chart shows is that people purchasing in Enniscorthy are willing to pay that bit more for the right house and seem to be getting loans to reflect this.

So, what does the market holds for the next six months? Who knows as the doomsayers were predicting values would fall last month and as the figures show that it hasn’t happened. Let’s just say its going to be an interested 6 months ahead!

Declan O’Leary

Managing Director 

Sherry FitzGerald O’Leary Kinsella