Property boom in Galway saw €573m in sales last year

The sales boom is continuing in Galway’s residential property market, with almost €573 million worth of homes sold in 2018.

The combined value of sales last year was up by just over 6% on 2017 and is the highest figure since official records began in 2010.

An analysis of official figures from the State’s Property Price Register by the Galway City Tribune shows that up until December 14 (the most up-to-date figures available), there were a total of 2,363 property transactions in Galway City and county.

For comparison, in 2010 when the Price Register came into effect, there were 896 transactions, with a combined value of €200m – that means that in eight years, the number of transactions has increased by almost 164%, while the value of sales almost trebled (up 185%).

Up until Week 50 of 2018, the total combined value of residential property sales was €573,022,905, up 6.3% from the €538,901,624 recorded in the exact same 50-week period for 2017, when there were 2,604 transactions.

There was a decrease in the volume of sales of just over 9%, the figures show.

A ‘health warning’ comes with the figures in that the Property Price Register is compiled from data which is filed, for Stamp Duty purposes, with the Revenue Commissioners, and there can be delays before a transaction appears on the register.

The biggest property sale of the year was a bungalow on a half-acre site in Salthill (opposite the former Warwick Hotel), which sold for €1.8m in March. The guide price was €1m.

Planning permission has since been sought on that site for the development of 39 apartments in two blocks.

The next major sale was a palatial four-bed detached house (with fully converted attic) at Barna Gardens in Barna, set on one acre of landscaped gardens, which sold for €1.575m.

As well as 4,200 square feet of accommodation, there is an additional 1,300 sq ft in attic space. It boasts high ceilings, travertine tiled floors, and a master bedroom which spans the full depth of the house – and has been likened to that of a five-star hotel, with double jacuzzi bath among the man luxury features.

A city centre townhouse at 17 New Dock Street, which dates back to the 1900s and has development potential due to a 0.05 ‘L’-shaped site, sold in June for €1.5m, having gone to auction with a €700,000 price tag.

At Forramoyle East, Barna, a stylish six-bed house with its own cinema and internal glass hallway overlooking the private decking and garden, went on the market with a €1.6m price tag and sold for €1.375m.

Cluain Mhuire, a period property on Taylor’s Hill in Galway, sold at auction at the end of 2017, but the €1.4m sale was recorded in 2018. Built in 1913 and designed to facilitate Church of Ireland pastoral activities, it went to auction with a guide price of €1.35m.

On Taylor’s Hill, St Helen’s, which sits on a one-acre site and was built in the 1840s by the brother of Lady Gregory, went on the market with a guide price of €1.5m and sold for €1.311m.

Also on Taylor’s Hill, Averarde, a five-bed detached property which extends to 3,000 square feet, sold for €1.25m.

In total, there were 16 sales which exceeded the €1m mark – three of which were multi-unit residential sales.

The multi-unit sales included just under €34.8m for the Cúirt na Coiribe student accommodation complex on the Headford Road in Galway, which was purchased by Exeter Property Group, a US-based property fund.

Seventeen apartments on the upper floors at Citypoint on Prospect Hill – the development which houses TK Maxx – sold for a total of €5.112m.

The cheapest property sale recorded in Galway in 2018 was a derelict bungalow at Gortaha, Portumna on 0.2 of an acre, which sold for €7,000.

The Property Price Register figures show that since 2010, the volume of sales being recorded in Galway – and their total value – decreased, before embarking on a significant upward trend.

In 2010, there were 948 sales registered in Galway up to December 14 – the date used in this analysis for all comparisons – with a total value of almost €211.7m.

The comparative figures the following year were varied; the volume of sales was 853 (up less than 1%), while the value was €186m (down 11.7%).

In 2012, the value of sales was up around 4% to €194.3m and there was a 22.5% increase in the volume of sales from 956 to 1,171.

There was a subsequent massive jump in total values and volumes the following year – up 35% to 1,585 and up 27% to €248m.

Between 2013 and 2014, the volume of sales was up 53% from 1,585 to 2,425, while the total value was up 52% to almost €377.4m.

In 2015, there were 2,828 transactions with a total value of just under €477m, while in 2016, there were 2,604 transactions with a total value of €538.9m.

Looking at sales during the entirety of 2010 to 2017 and up to December 14, 2018, more than €3.34 billion worth of residential property sales have been recorded.