ALMOST one in four new home queries in Derry are coming from emigrants who want to return home to the city, a unique new survey shows.
Taggart Homes, which is building new houses at Culmore Road and Crescent Link in Derry, spoke to 522 people since January this year.
And they found that over the four month period 127 home-hunters – or 24 per cent of those queries – came from people no longer living in the city who were considering a purchase.
The survey results found that of those who made an enquiry from outside Derry:
· 44 of them lived in either North America (22), Australia (16), or mainland Europe (6)
· 61 currently live elsewhere in Ireland – split almost equally between north (32) and south (29)
· 22 lived in England (17), Scotland (4) and Wales (1)
Taggart Homes Sales Manager Grainne Murphy, who has two decades of experience in home sales in the Derry area, said the queries were a positive sign for the North West.
“We have always seen queries from people who maybe left the city for work reasons but this rate of enquiry is something very new, especially from the United States,” says Grainne.
“We deal with a broad range of people and every story is different. Some people are doing very well overseas and want to get on the property ladder at home so they have a presence here when they decide to return. In particular they are looking for an investment that they want to call home in a few years’ time.
“In many other cases it is couples with young children who want to come back to the city to be close to relatives and to avail of the excellent local education system.”
The experienced home sales manager says post-Troubles Derry with its thriving tourism trade is attracting ex-pats.
“We have seen a lot queries from the States,” said Grainne.
“These are people from Derry who moved there a few years ago and want to come home to the city to live. Some have been home around Christmas and maybe that has sparked a renewed interest in returning.They’re happy to sell up where they are now and are delighted to be coming home.”
Ms Murphy says she has never seen such a surge in investors and returning emigrants before.
“I think our city has really turned a corner. Almost 300,000 tourists stayed overnight in Derry last year, more than during the City of Culture Year in 2013. I suppose it’s not a surprise that many people actually from the city and who are part of the Derry Diaspora want to come home permanently,” she said.
“It’s becoming a regular occurrence now organising viewings at our developments on the Culmore Road and Crescent Link for people who have just come off a flight from London or Amsterdam or New York.”
She says new motorway links to Dublin and Belfast in the next few years will really put Derry on the map.
“The work on the Derry-Letterkenny-Strabane city region is a game-changer for the North West. We’re right where the Causeway Coast meets the Wild Atlantic Way. It’s a great place to live,” adds Grainne.
