More houses need to be sold if Donegal is to see a construction boom.
A leading Donegal estate agent says there will be no major return to the construction industry in the county unless prices of current houses rise.
Joe Reynolds from Property Partners Paul Reynolds, says prices in towns like Letterkenny are simply too low for builders to complete with.
“The biggest problem at the moment is that current prices are still too low for developers to build,” says Reynolds.
“There is no choice out there for first-time buyers. Until three-bed semis are achieving prices of €160,000, builders aren’t going to move back in.”
Mr Reynolds also says that the strong sterling had a huge impact on the market in Donegal in the last 12 months.
Property expert Joe Reynolds of Property Partners in Letterkenny.
He sees buyers coming from the UK who are interested in holiday homes and permanent homes.
Shortage of supply is a big problem around Letterkenny.
But the good news is that Reynolds believes prices will continue to rise in the next 12 months.
“The market has improved for us year-on-year for the past three years so we’d be confident that this will carry into 2016. For the lower end of the market, prices will have to rise by a minimum of 7pc upwards.”
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