Prices cut up to 40% to clear units overhanging market

Developers are offering substantially lower prices in the hope of shifting remaining units at schemes built in the last two to three years, says FIONA TYRELL.

PRICE CUTS of up to 40 per cent are being offered by builders in an attempt to get the stalled new homes market moving again and to clear unsold units.

While price reductions are bringing many new homes back to pre-2006 prices and interest rate cuts have gone a long way towards improving affordability, lack of finance and negative sentiment remain as the big hurdles for potential buyers.

A raft of new homes developers are hoping to shift remaining units at developments built in the last two to three years and are pitching prices at substantially less than the original asking prices.

For many builders it is not a case of making a profit any more, it’s simply making some sales to cover the cost of building and paying off some of the debt on sites.

Price cuts will be most prominent in large schemes on the edge of the city where developers have struggled to clear long-running sites.

First out of the blocks is Menolly Homes with further cuts at its Red Arches section at The Coast, in Baldoyle.

The developer says it is offering reductions of 26 to 37 per cent from peak prices at the development on the former racecourse in Baldoyle, Dublin 13.

Selling agent Sherry FitzGerald will be opening show units on site this weekend to give buyers a flavour of what is on offer.

One-bed apartments at Red Arches in The Coast are for sale from €225,000, down from €340,000 when the scheme was first launched in the middle of 2006. Three-bed duplexes are priced from €325,000, down from €470,000.

Over 500 units have been sold at The Coast and it is envisaged that there will be about 1,600 homes when the scheme is complete.

Menolly Homes and Killoe Developments are coming to the market this week with their Beaupark scheme off Grange Road in Dublin 13, which forms part of a new town on the edges of Baldoyle and Balgriffin in Dublin 13.

The last remaining homes are for sale at the 620-unit development through Sherry FitzGerald. Prices start at €180,000 for one-bed apartments, compared to €285,000 when the scheme was first launched back in 2006, a cut of 37 per cent. Three-bed duplexes were priced from €560,000 in 2006, now they are priced from €335,000, a reduction of €225,000 or 40 per cent. In Rathcoole village, Finnegan Menton is selling homes at Peyton on the outskirts of the village. Prices start at €290,000 for two-bed apartments going up to €525,000 for four-bed semi-detached houses.

In north Co Dublin, Sherry Fitz-Gerald is opening showhouses this week at The Hastings in Balbriggan.

One-bedroom units at Kingscroft Developments’ scheme are priced at €175,000 and three-bed townhouses are priced from €250,000.

When the scheme was first launched in 2007 three-bed townhouse were priced at €310,000, representing a price drop of 19 per cent.