Global climate change will be a "key selling point" for the Irish holiday homes market Sherry FitzGerald chairman Mark FitzGerald told the Irish Business Organisation in New York last week. He said that he didn't know a lot about global warming but said that he did recognise the change.

"Ireland is getting a more temperate climate. It is a place in Europe that is actually quite pleasant and people like to live in warm climates. That's going to be a key selling point for the Irish vacation market in the years to come," he said.

He was addressing the Irish Business Organisation on opportunities in the Irish property market just before the agency's first New York exhibition, designed to attract US investors into the Irish property market.

Mr FitzGerald told the IBO audience that the sense of community in rural Ireland helped keep maintenance costs down for holiday homes because neighbours were more willing to watch out for absent holiday homeowners. "You have good neighbours and what do good neighbours do? They look after one another and keep an eye on your property." He said that maintenance costs for Irish holiday homes were lower than they were for Florida condominiums, despite the inclement winter weather in Ireland. Ireland's tradition of building houses away from water meant that houses built near water were going to sell exceptionally well.

He also noted that Irish people had invested a large amount of money in the European property market and believed that this money would eventually return to Ireland for children and grandchildren and help boost the Irish property market. Looking at the Dublin market, he said that old Dublin houses are as "as rare as an orchid in February" and their value will rise quite dramatically. A very significant amount of assets are going to be inherited in Ireland in the next 20 or 30 years and this will continue to stimulate the property market, especially as free education and a booming economy continue to attract people into Ireland, he said.

The 200 or so people who came to Sherry FitzGerald's first New York property exhibition were mostly interested in properties in Cork, Kerry, all the western counties and Donegal, says Sherry FitzGerald director Ian McCarthy. While most were interested in holiday or retirement homes, some wanted properties as an investment, many were interested in buying pubs, and others were looking for sites to build their own homes.