Last year 1,549 sales were recorded in Co Wexford, a fall of 6.9 per cent from the 1,663 sales in the county in 2015.

The largest transactions were Granard Villa in Crosstown for €1.44 million, and Park House in Barntown for €1.25 million. The cheapest sale last year was Clonroche, Enniscorthy, which sold for €5,500.

In the first quarter of 2017 there were 350 sales recorded in the county – a 17.1 per cent increase on the 299 transactions between January 1st and March 31st last year.

According to Colum Murphy of Kehoe and Associates,  "It has been a very busy opening few months, with very encouraging signs for the rest of the year. The number of viewings has significantly increased compared to the levels in the first quarters of 2015 and 2016."

Only Dublin, Cork, Galway, Kildare and Meath recorded more sales last year than Wexford.

This year, sales in the bordering counties of Carlow, Kilkenny and Waterford all fell, with Carlow reporting the largest drop on 2016 – down 13.6 per cent. Wicklow increased by 17.3 per cent.

Price-wise most sales fall in the €100,000-€200,000 mark, with the largest transaction listed on the property price register so far this year as Garryhack House in Killinick, which sold in May for €590,000.

Stock year on year in the county has remained almost static; there are currently 1,082 properties advertised for sale in the county on myhome.ie versus 1,079 in May 2016. But according to John Corish of REA McCormack Corish, "demand is outstripping supply in the €100,000-€175,000 price bracket for townhouses and three-bedroom family homes".

David Quinn of Quinn Property in Gorey echoes this sentiment: "Generally three-bed semis and town properties have increased by 10-15 per cent over the past 12 months, with a scarcity of supply on the market and the number of interested parties far outweighing properties on offer".

The most expensive property for sale in the county is Borleagh Manor, an 800sq m residence on 154 acres, for which Colliers is seeking €3.4 million, having dropped from its first listing in 2014 of €4.75 million. There are numerous apartments for sale throughout the county, starting from as little as €37,500.

New builds and development

According to the Central Statistics Office, there were 519 new builds in Wexford last year. This was the highest figure since 2010, which was 659, but well shy of the peak of construction activity in the county in 2006, when 3,391 new homes were built. Many of the new developments on offer had started in the boom, and are only now seeing completion due to increased confidence in the market.

Riverchapel Wood in Courtown was first launched in 2009, and now Kinsella Estates are selling 96sq m homes there for €147,000. Eden Wood in Crosstown, just outside Wexford town, is asking €320,000 for four-bedroom 191sq m properties through Kehoe Estates. Also in Wexford town is Ard na Sláinte on Newtown Road, where houses range from 179sq m to 269sq m, from €290,000 through Sherry FitzGerald Haythornthwaite.

Gleann an Ghairdín in Gorey is on the market through Kearney Estate Agents, with prices for three-bed 115sq m properties at €235,000, and Ard Uisce, in Wexford town – also through Kearney – with prices starting at €220,000 for 104sq m three-bed units.

Period homes in need of renovation

There is a notable shortage of period properties ripe for renovation in Dublin, as builders whipped them up during the recession, but there is value for such properties throughout towns in Co Wexford. No 10 George’s Street in Wexford town, a 210sq m house currently rented out as five bedsits and two apartments, is seeking €180,000. No 8 Lower George’s Street, at 152sq m, is seeking €170,000 – both through Sherry FitzGerald Haythornthwaite.

No 17 Peter Street is seeking €100,000 through Dolores Power. In Enniscorthy, Leamur on Mill Park Road at 122sq m is asking €140,000 through Sherry FitzGerald O'Leary Kinsella, and 5 Priory Street in New Ross, at 110sq m, is seeking €85,000 through P N O'Gorman.

A reliable gauge of how the construction industry is faring in the county is the recent announcement by Grafton Merchanting, owner of the Heiton Buckley building supply store in Gorey, that it will increase staff numbers at the branch by 12 per cent by 2019.

As house prices and new building developments in the county increase, Wexford County Council has secured funding in an attempt to attract UK firms that wish to locate to Ireland as a result of Brexit.

"We will be spending in the region of €30 million over the next few years in order to facilitate property solutions for businesses," Wexford County Council chief executive Tom Enright announced recently. Hatch Hubs – one of which recently opened in Gorey – are one such solution. They were built by the council in conjunction with local developers, and the idea is to facilitate new businesses in the short term until they find their feet. Plans also include the establishment of a fintech park in Enniscorthy and an information technology park in Gorey.

The plans may well be ambitious, but the nature of both fintech and IT allows businesses to be based anywhere, and with house prices in the county so competitive compared with Dublin and Wicklow, this could well be a deciding factor for companies, especially with two bypasses in the pipeline, which will decrease commuting times. Proximity to the port of Rosslare is an added bonus.

The Trinity Wharf development in Wexford town will cost about €50 million and employ up to 1,000 people, which is good news for the southeast as unemployment figures are very high here.

The council is also in the midst of a new scheme to construct factories and lease them to companies at a low rent in order to facilitate employment. This is under way in New Ross.

With both the volume of sales and new builds increasing, in conjunction with improved infrastructure and a proactive county council, the sun may finally be beginning to shine again on the southeast, but as with elsewhere in the country, stock remains an issue.