Demand for houses in Cork rises by 13%

A CORK TD said housing “supply is not meeting the demand” in Cork and that people are “desperate” amid the current shortage of rental properties.

It comes as Daft.ie published the findings of its latest research on Friday which showed the demand for housing across Ireland is up 17% over the last 12 months.

The website said demand for new homes in May 2023 was up a “staggering” 114% compared to May 2022.

Eighteen of the 26 Republic counties have seen an increase in demand, with a 13% increase in demand recorded in Cork.

Daft.ie said the help-to-buy scheme, which helps first-time buyers purchase a newly-built house or apartment and one-off self-build homes, is a likely contributor to an almost 18-fold increase in demand for new homes within the price bracket of €400,000 to €500,000.

Speaking to The Echo, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould said the report is not surprising and said it highlights how desperate people are amid a shortage of rental accommodation.

“The RTB announced recently that there were 525 notices to quit in the first quarter of the year which brings it to a total of 1,500 in the past nine months.

“That’s 1,500 families who received notices to quit in nine months and with such a shortage of rental properties, more and more people are looking to buy houses because they can’t find anywhere to rent and if they can find anywhere to rent, which they can’t, the rents are actually much more expensive than it would be to buy a house.

“For people now who are either on the rental market or looking at buying for the first time, it’s a perfect negative storm.”