Recent trends in property prices in Mayo show that properties in general now take at least a year to sell and substantial variation still exists throughout the county with larger five bedroom homes showing a drop of just 15 per cent in value, as against two-bedroom apartments which recorded almost a 50 per cent decrease.
Interestingly, the boom cost for two-bedroom apartments at around €275,000 now equates to the selling price expected to be achieved for a new four-bedroom detached house in Mayo.
These figures are not backed up by all agents in the area, with some reporting increases in prices being achieved since the start of 2010. What is agreed, however, is that it takes much longer now to move properties on the market. On average it now takes up to one year for a sale to be agreed.
Early sales quoted in Mayo this year include a two-bedroom apartment in Castlebar which sold for €155,000, a number of three-bedroom duplexes in Westport which sold for between €185,000 and €197,500 and two-bedroom apartments in Westport town which were sold for between €155,000 and €190,000.
The most difficult properties to shift are apparently one-off houses in rural areas, while properties in Westport Town are generating a lot of interest.
As much as 70 per cent of the housing available for sale in Mayo at the moment is detached while 16 per cent is semi-detached.
Meanwhile the latest quarter survey by the Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute (IAVI ) has found that 86 per cent of respondents have found vendors’ price expectations had become more realistic since the beginning of 2010 while agents expect higher sales activity in 2011.
However, talk of a possible property tax is not helping matters.
“We are very concerned that the lack of clarity on property tax will result in the National House Price Register not being introduced or being postponed, despite being part of the Programme for Government,” said Simon Ensor of the IAVI Residential Panel and National Council. “House price transparency is essential for the sustainable operation of our housing market and it is within the Government’s remit to provide with a simple change to the data protection legislation.”
