GALWAY DEVELOPER O’Malley Construction struck gold last Saturday when it found buyers for a rake of unsold houses and apartments on two sites near Galway city centre.
The company shifted 26 homes worth over €7 million in a single afternoon after a “major discount sale” in the local Marriott Hotel. A large number of first-time buyers turned up and, after getting loan approval on site from the EBS, Bank of Ireland and AIB, they visited the two sites and selected homes of their choice. They later returned to the hotel to pay over the €5,000 booking deposits.
Three-bed semis at Leargan, off the Western Distributor Road, were cut from €370,000 to €239,500 while two-bed apartments and townhouses at Boireann Beag, off the main Galway/Dublin road, were on offer at €160,000 – originally €270,000. Four-bed homes were priced at €279,500, well back on the initial price of €400,000.
Colm O’Donnellan of local estate agent O’Donnellan Joyce said the real surprise was to have seen the three lenders chasing the buyers for mortgage business. All the buyers had jobs and many were prompted to buy because their parents’ homes had also been built by O’Malley.
