Moving to Ireland from abroad: ‘The price point is shocking to people’

It’s not just Irish people who find our property market challenging; those relocating from over-seas also find it difficult — and expensive — to navigate.

And, as recent figures show, more people are moving to Ireland than ever before. Indeed immigration into Ireland reached a 15-year high of more than 120,000 in the year to April 2022, the highest level since 2007.

Some of these (about 30,000) are Irish returning home, but most are international workers moving to Ireland, many for the first time, coming from across the UK, the European Union and further afield. Ireland is expected to issue about 30,000 work permits to people outside the EU this year, while many will also relocate here from within the EU too. Tech workers, engineers, medics, accountants — we need their skills for our economy to function.

But where are they coming from?

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Brian Kelly, co-founder of Corporate Care Relocation, says the typical person relocating is from India.

“Of the 30,000 employment permits issued to non-EU nationals this year, about 40 per cent will be Indian nationals,” he says, adding, “So if you really want to get a handle on who is a typical person coming to Ireland, it’s a 30 year-old Indian software developer”.

Global skill shortages mean recruiters must look beyond borders to get staff. Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment figures show to June this year, over 20,000 work permits have been issued to companies here. Familiar names bringing tens and often hundreds of workers include Accenture, Amazon, EY, Ericsson, Google, Intel, Meta and TikTok.

The process of moving workers between countries and continents is a well-oiled machine. Most large multinationals have a dedicated global mobility department. On the ground relocation experts are hired to resettle employees.

Some workers arrive in Ireland alone, others have families. In a war for talent, it’s in employers’ interest that they are happy.

“The biggest cause of relocation failure is generally the family is unhappy,” says Kelly. “For the person who is coming here to work, it’s a new and exciting opportunity. They are working with one of the biggest companies in the world. But if their family is unhappy, that could cause a problem for everybody”.

For new arrivals, employers might provide 30 nights accommodation in temporary corporate housing, says Kelly. His company will help with everything from emigration documentation to getting PPS numbers, opening a bank account to finding a car. The race is on to find accommodation too.

Young single workers favour city centre apartments, he says. For families, the property search starts with schools.

“We will find the school place first, then we will find suitable accommodation near to the school and in that order,” he says. “You really have to concentrate on getting that school place, making sure the children are happy and that the spouse is happy”.

For new arrivals, words like “semi-d”, “hot press” and “immersion” need explanation. “The bigger surprise is that there are not many properties available to rent. This drives up prices and they can be surprised at the price point,” says Kelly. He hopes supply will improve later this year.

“There is a particular backlog of people coming in who should have come in over the past two years but Covid slowed down their move.”

Relocating employees typically pay their own rent. “We find these clients choose properties that are maybe 20 per cent above the rent average,” says Kelly.

“If you look at a one-bed in Dublin 1 or 2, you are looking at approximately €2,000 for good quality. If you are to go to a three or four-bed house in the suburbs, someone at the very high end could be paying close to €20,000 a month,” he says. “They are a discerning client base.”

Kelly and his team know it’s challenging for new arrivals.

“They are moving to a new job in a new country, English may not be their first language. They could be moving with spouses and children, which means new schools — all of the most stressful things you could possibly do in your life, you are doing at once,” he says.

“Most of us have lived and worked in another country so we understand the experience ourselves.”

‘It’s shocking for people’

Dwellworks is another company helping relocate everyone from interns to chief executives to Ireland. Senior director Catherine Molyneaux and her team work with finance, technology, fintech and pharmacy professionals from all over the world.

“We see a lot from the US, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Pakistan, but quite a lot are moving from Europe and England as well,” she says. Post-Brexit and post-Covid, the numbers coming are up.

“The majority would be absolutely new to Ireland and maybe have never lived anywhere other than their home country, particularly the younger singles moving for technology companies,” says Molyneaux. “It is a very exciting time for them, and it can be a very scary time for some of them because it is all so new.”

Budget is the primary driver of the accommodation search, followed by proximity to the office. Those arriving are “hugely surprised” by the cost, she says. “When you look at what they want to achieve and the location they want, it’s very challenging to reset their expectations.”

“Things like the percentage of salary you are going to spend on rent, it’s hugely impactful for people obviously. It can dampen things a lot for them, I think. Single people that are moving and you say, half of your wages are going to be gone every month on rent, it’s shocking for people. The price point is shocking for almost everyone we speak to,” says Molyneaux. One, two and three-bed apartments are the properties Dwellworks is most frequently asked to source.

With families, care is taken to support all members, says Molyneaux. “One of the biggest reasons the relocation would fail is because the partner isn’t happy, so it’s something we focus on quite a lot to make sure the whole family feels involved,” she says.

“The person coming for work, they are in the office, they are interacting, meeting colleagues and socialising, whereas the partner can feel a little bit disconnected.”

Showing them their local place of worship, the local shops, the doctor, the dentist as well as introducing them to local clubs and sports activities helps with settling in. The biggest challenge this year is school places, says Molyneaux. “The amazing support Ireland has given to Ukrainian refugees has understandably added extra pressure to the schooling system,” says Molyneaux.

Even in private schools, the waiting lists are much longer, she says. “Similarly with creche and preschool places, it’s very challenging. It’s challenging for Irish people looking for places and it’s no different for those relocating.”

She is used to challenges. Supporting those moving with pets can be “hugely interesting” she says. “One client was moving with six dogs, three cats and a couple of birds. I think the estate agents thought I was joking.”

Friendly city

New arrivals are surprised that you can drink the tap water — and you don’t have to pay for it, she says. People are surprised at how physically small Dublin is, but how diverse and cosmopolitan it is too. That a stranger would say, “hello”, is also unusual.

“They are shocked at how friendly people are — ‘I don’t know that person, why are they saying hello? Someone started talking to me at the bus stop — what’s going on?’”

Breffnie O’Kelly is a professional house-hunter, finding properties to rent or buy for time-poor people. Clients on her books include medical consultants relocating from Bulgaria, a tech worker coming from Greece, Australian and English couples and a Canadian buying for his university student son. For most relocating, she will advise them to rent first. “I would always say to them, rent for a year to figure out where your children land emotionally and where you land as well,” she says. “They don’t always want to hear that.”

Clients can come with a wishlist, but when it comes to renting, it usually goes out the window. “We have to figure out what’s the budget — the budget combined with the number of bedrooms equals where they live really,” says O’Kelly.

What new arrivals value is her neighbourhood knowledge. “This morning, someone sent me a really glamorous-looking photo from Daft.ie and it’s an awful spot. She wouldn’t be happy. They can get seduced by finish, so that’s why they need someone to help them understand the locations,” says O’Kelly.

For families moving here, a school place dictates everything. “It can be a little bit like finding out the secrets of the school catchment area and then working around that,” says O’Kelly. “The International School in Sandyford comes up quite a bit in terms of commutability, and St Kilian’s German school in Clonskeagh.”

For Americans looking to buy here, the process has eccentricities. “They don’t realise that just because they are a buyer, it doesn’t mean they are someone’s customer,” says O’Kelly. “The customer in Ireland is the person who is selling the house, they are the customer of the estate agent. The person who wants to buy the house is actually nobody’s customer. Unless they are my customer. So no one is really breaking their heart to service them”.

The other thing that astounds is that they can’t just line up viewings. “Over there, a buyer’s agent will take them to see five homes back to back. They can’t understand how it is actually quite hard to set up a viewing here.”

The tango around asking price is also baffling. “They find it hard to understand that if a property is advertised for €990,000, they are not going to go in and offer €850,000 — it is more than likely going to go for more than the asking price and sometimes significantly more. They find the ‘slow motion auction’ of bidding over two to three weeks baffling,” says O’Kelly. The point of going ‘sale agreed’ is also a curiosity. “What does that even mean — it means you are engaged, but either party can break it off.”

“Being asked to send a booking deposit with basically no legal anything, they always double check, ‘Is it okay to send this, who are these guys?’ ”

Prices can confound visitors too. “I think they find it hard to get their heads around that they might pay well over €1 million for a red brick terraced house in Donnybrook and not get parking. That’s something that takes a bit of getting used to.”