Housebuilder Cairn: a third of sales are to first-time buyers

Nation’s biggest house builder says property investors account for less than 10 per cent of sales

Michael Slaney, chief executive of Cairn Homes Picture: Feargal Ward

The country’s biggest house builder, Cairn Homes, has said that property investors account for less than 10 per cent of sales for its current batch of 300 houses which have been sold but not yet built.

By contrast, one-third of forward sales, which Cairn has valued at over €120 million in total, are to first-time buyers, according to its chief executive, Michael Stanley.

It is now more than 30 per cent more expensive ...