IT IS official. Mayo is a property investors paradise.
The latest permanent tsb/ERSI House Price Index shows that Mayo has experienced huge growth in the last decade, with property prices increasing by 228%.
The index reveals that Mayo is racing ahead of the other major population centres in Connacht - Galway and Sligo - as well as the capital city itself, Dublin.
Local auctioneers have welcomed the publication of the index as very good news for the county and say it will make Mayo more attractive than ever to the investor.
Compiled by the ERSI, the index, which was published yesterday (Monday) is widely regarded as the most authoritative measure of house price movements in Ireland. The index has revealed that the average house price in Mayo in 1996 was •69,838. In 2005 the average had increased to
•229,121. Nationally, house prices have risen by 270% in the last ten years.
Greg Jackson, Gunne Estate Agents, Ballina and Castlebar, said the findings of the house price index were very significant for Mayo.
“What happened last year and what seems to be continuing to happen this year is that property prices in Mayo are growing 50% faster than prices in Galway and nearly 200% faster than in Sligo. The increase in Mayo prices was about 10% better than in Dublin,” he remarked.
He said Mayo’s performance might be a reflection of the fact that the county was still a little behind:
“We still have some catching up to do with the national average house price, which is around •250,000. We are still at around
•225,000/ •230,000.”
Mr Jackson predicted that 2006 would see a continued increase in the rental property market in Mayo due to the continuing rise in rents and capital growth.
He said the experience in the Ballina property market mirrored what was happening at the county level. House prices are continuing to rise and there are a lot of new house buyers on the market.
“I think the foreign entrants are making a difference both in the rental and sales markets,” he remarked. “The more people that are renting the more people will buy properties.”
He said the continuing rise in property prices was a sure indicator that supply was not exceeding demand in Mayo. Mr Jackson remarked that the major developers in the county had been very prudent and had avoided flooding the market.
“There has been a certain amount of prudence there. The experience in our Ballina and Castlebar offices has been that house prices and rents are rising steadily. The combination of both is very healthy. If I was a shrewd investor I would be looking for that,” he remarked.
Patrick Durcan, Durcan’s Property Partner, Castlebar, was not surprised either by Mayo’s performance on the property price index.
He said house prices had easily grown at that rate in the Castlebar market. He said the trends had changed in the last 12 to 18 months. Prior to then the majority of house buyers were investors but now there is a huge number of young first time buyers on the market.
And it seems that women are at the head of the spending stakes in Mayo’s booming property market.
Mr Durcan said there was currently a huge trend among young single females of buying property.
“We had one estate in Castlebar where 95% of the houses were purchased by young, single females,” he revealed.
