East Cork: Beautiful region is a real property hot spot

Irish Examiner

09-05-2025

East Cork is 'no longer the bridesmaid, and never the bride' when it comes to comparisons between the eastern and western sections of Ireland's biggest county, Cork.
While West Cork traditionally has had a halo effect from its rugged landscape, coastline, art appeal and celebrity allure, East Cork is no slouch either, in terms of beautiful places to live, outdoor attractions, strong tourism draws and attractions as well as valuable, well-paid employment options.
And, it's on the move, with improving accessibility as a spur, and a growing profile as an attractive and viable commuter option for the greater Cork area.
With all the aspirational talk about a light rail service for Cork city — LUAS Cork — the reality is there's already a commuter rail service in Cork, up to Mallow along the Dublin line, with expansion plans for around Blarney and other stations.
Even more vigorously, the East Cork service serving Cobh, and out to Midleton and points between with more such as at Water Rock for Midleton's booming new quarter, is getting constant upgrades.
Expanded twin-track sections are on the way, and with increased regularity: it's up to every half an hour and train reliability leaves city buses in the shade.
Much of Cork's future population growth is being directed eastwards, thanks to the sustainability of rail travel, with points past Glanmire such as Glounthaune, Carrigtwohill and Midleton on track literally and metaphorically to provide thousands of homes in the next five to ten years — some 2,500 new builds in Midleton alone, in locations like Lakeview and Water Rock.
'Upcoming rail line upgrades between Cork city, Carrigtwohill, and Midleton are transforming these towns into true commuter hubs: Cork Co Council's development plans continue to prioritise East Cork for sustainable residential growth,' says Midleton-based estate agent Adrianna Hegarty.
Similarly, Cobh-based agent Johanna Murphy comments: 'Cobh is now becoming very much a commuter town and the main reason is that we have an excellent transport system – the train runs every half-hour — and we have a bus service Cobh Connect. It takes half an hour to get to Cobh and it's a scenic trip both up and down.
'The whole idea of living on an Island is another concept that people are finding extremely attractive — after all, let's face it, to live on an island, just half an hour from Cork city is something out of a fairytale,' Ms Murphy adds.
Apart from the lure of lifestyle appeal around Cobh, Cork harbour's fringes and beaches galore both inside the harbour and right out to 'sleeping giant' Youghal (there's growing calls for the rail line to parallel the new greenway right back to Youghal one more, and rightly so) at the county's far tip, another key element is relative affordability of housing, both new and second hand, often at a fraction of city values, and those in West Cork which in many cases hit stratospheric levels — Kinsale, admittedly, is right off the charts!
Work is under way at Ballynatray House, on the banks of the River Blackwater, British billionaire James Dyson's €30+m home on the Cork-Waterford border. Photo: Larry Cummins
Off the charts in terms of East Cork is breaching the €1m barrier, only rarely done around main towns (one of the first was the modern and high-end Capri Lodge in Midleton making €1.1m last year via agent James Colbert): but, there's definitely going to be a knock-on effect from the €30m+ plus purchase of the Ballynatray Estate on the Cork-Waterford border by UK billionaire James Dyson just over a year ago.
The Blackwater buy is Ireland's most expensive private house/estate purchase ever, bar the €58m paid for Dublin's Walford, and that was bough as a development play that went south.
Dyson's further spend on Ballynatray is already having an effect on the local economy around Youghal, in terms of accommodation for work crews, materials, and service, and will have a continuing impact locally and in the town, with a consequent 'halo' effect likely too.
Value for money has been quite real in East Cork: the average price for three-bed semis in the region is c.€ 300,000, and closer to or €335,000 in the main bustling towns. However, BER A-rated new housing stock is now priced in the €400,000/€450,000 level after recent years of near-double-digit price inflation and material costs increase.
Price examples quoted by Suzanne Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing for the rapidly evolving Water Rock Midleton by Clancy Construction have three-bed 100 sq m semis at €405k, 127 sq m four-beds at €475k and larger (152 sq m ) ones at €520,000 in the 300-unit (200 houses) strong development Ard Griffin.
First handovers will be Q3 2025 and buyers are 'a mix of locals and Corkonians in general as well as 'new Irish' all commenting on the positive location and easy access to transport networks, says Ms Tyrrell, adding 'the general Water Rock area will be a hive of activity with a new train station stop, schools, nursing homes etc planned.'
The same Cohalan Downing agent is also selling the final phase of Harpers Creek, Glounthaune, The Crest, with 108 sq m three-bed semis at €445,000, 128 sqm ones at €485,000 and four-bed semis of 152sqm at €580k to € 590,000.
In Cobh, new three-bed homes are coming to market from €80,000 to €450,000: 'That might be OK if you have two good salaries coming in but not everyone does, and I think the market in Cobh caters for everyone, with so many grants available to buyers now to help them renovate,' notes estate agent Johanna Murphy, adding that 'you can buy a terraced house in Cobh anything from €200,000 to €250,000.'