Waterford offers city life, non-fee-paying schools for families, and a range of housing stock options.
With a breathtaking coastline, scenic interior, and the vibrant buzz of its city, Waterford has been attracting people looking to relocate since long before the Vikings made it their home.
For families with kids, the city is especially attractive: it offers a wide choice of non-fee-paying schools, a university, and high-paying jobs for healthcare, tech, and financial services professionals in companies such as Apple, Sanofi, and Sun Life.
The M9 and M11 motorways have cut journey times. There’s easy access to Cork and door-to-door motorway to Dublin, which takes between 90 minutes and an hour and 50 minutes, depending on your destination.
A new bridge across the river Suir and a new train station, to be located on the north side of its quays, both due for completion next year, will further enhance connectivity.
For remote workers, those who must be in the office two days a week, the travel time by train to Dublin is about two hours and 15 minutes.
Inward migration is on the up. The population of Waterford city and suburbs grew by 10 per cent, according to the last Census in 2022.
In the last 12 months, it grew by a further 2.5 per cent according to figures released last April by the Central Statistics Office as part of the Population and Migration Estimates.
The formation in 2022 of Southeast Technological University (SETU), through the merger of Carlow and Waterford Institutes of Technology, is another draw.
SETU has 18,000 students across three campuses, and last year, supported by the Department of Further Higher Education and Skills, acquired the 37-acre site of the former Waterford Crystal factory.
It plans to transform this into a new university and enterprise quarter, aimed at bringing companies and researchers closer together.
Waterford City has a thriving restaurant and bar scene. The Copper Coast, the greenway, and the Comeragh Mountains are all just 20 minutes away.
It offers short commutes, a sense of community, yet it doesn’t feel remote.
The housing stock options are a big factor in any relocation decision. There is a wider variety of home styles for sale in the city, its suburbs, and surrounding commuter towns.
Agent Tom Rohan of Sherry FitzGerald John Rohan, who moved back to Waterford from Dublin to buy, says that while supply is limited, the city has a price point that is achievable to those hunting in the less than €500,000 market.
In the city centre, examples that the agency has on its listings include number 79 Johnstown, a D1 Ber-rated three-bedroom, one-bathroom townhouse of 83 square metres, seeking €160,000.
It opens into a small hall, has a living room and a kitchen on the ground floor, the main bathroom on the hall return, the principal bedroom on the first floor, and two bedrooms on the second floor.
Sherry FitzGerald John Rohan is also selling the brick-fronted, C3 BER-rated, number 68 Lower Yellow Road.
Situated on the street, this brick-fronted, end-terrace, three-bedroom, one-bathroom property is just a short walk from the city centre.
Extending to 74 square metres, it has a separate sitting room and eat-in kitchen, and a decent-sized back garden with pedestrian rear access.
In the suburbs, homes along the Dunmore Road are in demand, says Michael Griffin of Griffin Auctioneers.
Remax Team Fogarty is selling the recently extended 91 The Paddocks, on Williamstown Road, close to the Dunmore Road and the Ardkeen area, also the location of one of the best independent supermarkets in the country.
The three-storey, three-bedroom, three-bathroom B3 Ber-rated semi is seeking €330,000.
Coastal commuter-belt towns also merit attention.
Dunmore East is one of the prettiest, while Tramore draws a surf crowd, one of the indicators that it is on the up.
Just a 10-minute drive from Waterford city, it is where Rohan bought and has a range of housing stock types, including some impressive period properties with views across Tramore Bay.
Rushmere House is one such trophy home. The three-bay Victorian has nine bedrooms and six bathrooms.
With a decent C3 Ber-rating, the former guest house has spectacular elevated sea views and is seeking €550,000 through Griffin Auctioneers.
