Property prices too high still

Property prices still too high – survey


Analysis shows Castlebar market has held up better than Westport

Áine Ryan

DESPITE a whopping 50 per cent drop in some property prices in County Mayo, many asking prices remain completely at odds with value, clearly demanding further reductions before the stagnant market starts to move again.
This is just one finding of a groundbreaking new survey, the ‘Mayo Property Price Survey’, published last week by leading auctioneer, Gerard O’Toole of Tuohy O’Toole.
“On average the price falls were reasonably consistent in the six towns we surveyed and probably mirror the drops throughout the country,” Gerard O’Toole told The Mayo News.
The county’s six largest towns – Castlebar, Ballina, Westport, Claremorris, Ballinrobe and Ballyhaunis – were surveyed by Mr O’Toole, in association with local auctioneers.
Gerard O’Toole said that ‘from peak to trough’ price falls averaged at around 40 per cent over a two-year period.
“However, asking prices in many instances are still unrealistic and completely at odds with the value. Interestingly, from the survey data, Castlebar residential prices have held up better than Westport’s, in particular. There is a bigger pool of buyers in Castlebar while the market in Westport is now only driven by the home market and not by the holiday-home market,” explains Gerard O’Toole.
However, on a positive note, he says there is now ‘on the face of it, much better value out there’, due to the impact of an average 40 per cent correction.
“If you combine this with interest rates which are at historically low levels, affordability is better than it has been for many years. I think the market will bottom-out early to mid-next year but the recovery in price levels will take a long time,” he continues.
Notwithstanding this positive message, he concedes that NAMA  ‘is a huge calculated gamble’. Nonetheless, he observes, property prices, in the coming years, will be driven by ‘the fundamentals of home ownership and less about speculation and greed’.
Regarding the rental market – which he says has been less badly hit than office rentals and the industrial sector – Gerard O’Toole cited the importance of a recent decision by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern prohibiting ‘upward rent reviews’ in new contracts.