Home loans provided by Kerry County Council to help first time buyers get on the property ladder are completely inadequate in West Kerry where spiralling prices have put homes beyond the reach of young couples. Local Authority Home Loans are provided by the Government to first time buyers to cover the cost of the purchase or build of a home. The properties can be new or second hand and each County Council has a limit for the market value of the house that can be financed. These range from €360,000 in Dublin and surrounding counties to a low of €275,000, which is the maximum property price that can be funded by a Council home loan in Kerry. However, according to figures released by the Property Price Register (PPR), it is several years since the average price of a house in West Kerry was €275,000 or less. In 2020 the average price of a home sold in Dingle was €285,296, and by the following year the figure increased to €305,158. Average house prices in West Kerry stabilised at €303,728 in 2022, but rose sharply again in 2023 with the average price of a house sold in Dingle standing at €362,831 last year. The staggering rise in prices is exemplified by a single house in Gortonora, which was bought in 2016 for €50,000, was re-sold in 2021 for €230,000 and last November the house was sold once again with the purchaser paying €425,000 for the property, according to figures published on the Property Price Register. It is not only in Dingle town that eyewatering prices are asked for and paid for properties. In Ventry a field with a derelict cottage is on the market with an asking price of €200,000, effectively the price for a large site with a very good sea view. Managing Director of West Kerry Properties Ltd, Anthony Fitzgerald said this week that the average price for a house is currently in the region of €360,000. “You’d hardly get anything in Dingle [or West Kerry] for €230,000,” he added. In contrast, the average price of properties sold in Tralee in 2023 was €272,165 and over 70 per cent of properties sold in the county capital for less than €275,000. The disparity in prices presents enormous challenges for young people looking to start out with their first house in West Kerry. According to Anthony the main driver of house prices in West Kerry is a dire lack of supply. “The number of houses in West Kerry that I have on my books at the moment is in single digits. I’ve never before had so few houses for sale,” he said. According to Anthony, the most popular houses are three-bed detached or semi-detached and the preference is for houses rather than apartments. “But people have to take what they can get.” “Too few new houses are being built,” he said adding that, “everything is stacked against the developers”. Plans that have been submitted to Kerry County Council for developments in Dingle have often faced staunch resistance from surrounding residents, with many objections stating that they types of ‘living units’ being proposed – often mostly made up of apartments - are not suitable and that the density is too high for a rural town and more suited to a city or large town environment. Meanwhile, Census figures show that Dingle has one of the oldest populations in Ireland, and that retired and elderly families make up almost 30 per cent of the households on the peninsula. The Census figures appear to confirm evidence on the ground that young people are being excluded from the property market in West Kerry. With an aging population, the lack of provision of opportunity for young people to buy or acquire a permanent home suitable to their needs may set the seeds for larger problems in future years.
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