UK property vultures swoop on city market
Vulture investors from the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland are targeting the property market in Galway City.
With the strength of sterling against the euro at a seven-year high, buyers are preying on the market here to make a quick profit by ‘flipping’ renovated properties and renting out apartments.
The property market in Galway is at its busiest in more than five years – in the first six months of 2015, €201.7m worth of sales were ‘closed’ here.
That has more than doubled from the €94m in sales registered for the same period in 2010.
And the volume of sales has also rocketed – 1,161 residential properties were sold between January and the end of June, that is almost treble the 425 sold in the same period in 2010.
UK buyers are contributing to the current boom in Galway’s market – one scout currently in the city reported a “significant upswing” in interest.
“We are looking at properties that can be flipped quickly [renovated and sold on] with a solid return, and at units for the rental market," the agent said.
And a local auctioneer said that last month was his busiest since he set up his agency in 1982 in terms of volume of sales.
See the full story – including official figures from the Property Price Register – in today’s Galway City Tribune