Enormous demand for property in North Clare

WITH the north Clare property market soaring, auctioneer Peri Griffin said it is very difficult for local people who want to rent a home in their own areas.

Ms Griffin, of Streets Ahead Properties, said there is a massive level of interest in almost any property that becomes available.

“For instance we put up an advertisement for a place in Coore lately, and that wouldn’t be somewhere many people would be looking for, but we must have had 60 to 70 emails.

“Here in Ennistymon you could have 150 emails. I put up one for Lisdoonvarna and in the space of five minutes there must have been 20 emails in.”

She says the difficulties in the local rental market are actually going on for a long time.

“We have had a crisis on our doorstep for the last six years, never mind just now.”

She said that since she became active in renting properties in 2008 a number of landlords have sold their rental properties, while some tenants are staying in situ for very long periods, even longer than a decade in some cases.

A third factor which is affecting supply is the rise of AirBnB.

“It is the big one that’s affecting the rental market,” she says.

In terms of sales, she says that the local market is also very strong, with properties often selling very quickly, with people occasionally missing out because they aren’t available to attend a first viewing.

Ms Griffin also says properties routinely exceed the asking prices, such is the level of demand. At one point there was a huge number of people looking to relocate to North Clare, as remote work had become an option for them.

“At that stage a lot of people decided we are getting out of the city now, we can work from home. There was a huge, huge splurge of people coming to this area to work from home.”

While that tide has slowed, she said there are still people frequently looking to move to the area, taking advantage of the possibility of remote work.