Head across the Irish Sea for bargain houses - Mortgages - Money - The Independent

Head across the Irish Sea for bargain houses - Mortgages - Money - The Independent

Ireland may be watching its young graduates leave their homes behind in search of work, but many Britons are peering across the Irish Sea looking for a property bargain.

With prices at an all-time low, investors hope that the market has hit the floor and want to snap up cheap homes while they can.

Interest on the online property portal Rightmove Overseas in Irish property began to rise when the debt crisis hit the headlines, but now there are 39,000 searches for Irish property every month, making it the 11th most popular country on the site.

"Property prices in Ireland are at their lowest since 2003, so now is a great time to think about putting money into a renovation project or a newly built property before prices start to rise," says Tom Whale from Rightmove Overseas.

House prices in Ireland have been in a slump for four years and fell by 14.3 per cent in the year to September, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), based in Cork.

From their peak in 2007, average house prices are down by 43 per cent. Owners of flats in Dublin have been hit hardest, seeing a 4.8 per cent drop in September prices and a 59 per cent collapse from the highs seen during the Celtic Tiger years.