Profits from doom? How the property market stayed strong in 2020

Covid-19 didn‘t prevent plenty of properties under the hammer from fetching impressive prices this year

Horse Island off the west Cork coast sold for more than its €5.5 million guide price

We started 2020 full of optimism and looking forward a really strong market armed with instructions on some lovely properties. Then over the horizon came Covid-19 with the resulting shutdown, closely followed by stockbrokers predicting a 20 per cent drop in values and bankers saying 12 per cent.

No one really asked the frontline staff, the agents, who quickly confirmed a strong market with prices, if anything, rising primarily due to strong demand and shortage ...