Irish Estates Returning to the Local Well-to-Do
Country squires were stunned when a German family auctioned off its 485-acre estate in Tipperary recently for $8.6 million--almost three times its estimated value.
But it wasn’t just the hammer price creating the buzz. It was the nationality of the bidders: Irish vs. Irish.
From Kildare to Kerry, Ireland’s nouveaux riches are buying back historic country estates and castles, elbowing out foreigners who aren’t used to the local competition.
“Up until three or four years ago, the better-quality country houses were being bought by the Europeans or American foreign nationals,” says Jonathan Price, a real estate agent for Hamilton Osborne King, the company handling the Tipperary sale. “With the economy here the way it is now, though, there is an awful lot of home-grown money looking for quality.”
Edward Townsend, an agent with Dublin’s Jackson-Stops McCabe, says he spends the majority of his time courting local millionaires who have cashed in on Ireland’s booming computer software and financial services industries.
“Today, 60% of the buyers are Irish and 40% are overseas, whereas a few years ago that was reversed,” Townsend says.
Since 1996, Ireland’s economy has grown an average of 8% a year, and private homeowners aren’t the only ones feeling flush.
In June, the Irish government finalized a $28.5-million deal with the Guinness brewing family to buy its 78-acre Farmleigh estate outside Dublin. The deal ended months of speculation that a foreign buyer would swoop in and claim the heritage property.
“One of the bonuses along the way is that it is an important property, and now that it is owned by the state it will be protected,” says Public Works Minister Martin Cullen, who negotiated the deal.
Farmleigh’s Georgian-style mansion, with its 20 main bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, library and 76-foot-long ballroom, will be used to entertain foreign heads of state when it is refurbished and reopened in December.
Renovations, including a new indoor swimming pool and gym, have been budgeted at an additional $8.6 million.
Of course, many of Ireland’s great country homes have continued to be owned or run by European and U.S. families.
Thomas Kane, a former Wall Street broker, bought Adare Manor near Limerick in 1987. Kevin Crowe, chairman of the New York investment firm Essex Corp., also is chairman of County Mayo’s Ashford Castle, which is run as a luxury hotel.
But for Irish nationals casting about for their own “grand pile,” plenty of options remain.
Christine and Walter Griffith of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have listed their nine-bedroom Rossennara House in County Kilkenny for about $1.8 million. The Georgian mansion was built in 1824 to the design specifications of James Hoban, who also designed the White House in Washington.
For buyers needing more legroom, there’s Humewood Castle, a 60,000-square-foot mansion with a 480-acre sporting estate in County Wicklow. Its German owner is asking $12.4 million.
Temporary cash crunch? There’s always the option of renting.
Luttrellstown Castle, where singer Victoria Adams of the Spice Girls and soccer star David Beckham married, can accommodate a party of up to 28 people for about $50,000 a week, excluding food.
Geraldine Murtagh, director of Elegant Ireland rental properties, says 90% of her clients are North Americans--but that the Irish, too, are developing a taste for luxury.
“Increasingly, they’re being attracted to properties with staff,” she says. “They seem to be prepared to pay for their creature comforts.”
Elegant Ireland on the Net: https://www.elegant.ie
