Donegal property prices buck the national trend

Around one third of the homes and properties in the county were sold for less than €70,000 last year, according to a new survey.
The average price of residential property in Donegal, as listed on the Residential Property Price Register, was €108,000.
That was a rise of 4.2 per cent compared to 2015.
The rise in the average price for homes in Donegal in 2016 was behind the increases elsewhere in the country.
A small number of houses were sold for more than €500,000 and €400,000.
Around a third of the homes in the county went for less than €70,000 during 2016 making the county an affordable county to buy in compared to many others, according to the data analysis carried out by the Sunday Business Post.
The residential market in Donegal is small in comparison with other counties.
Just over one thousand properties were sold in Donegal during 2016.
That marked more than a 15 per cent fall on the number of similar sales registered in 2015 in the county.
Many of the new builds are one-off houses but the Rann Mór Meadow development is Letterkenny, with its solar panels and A-rated homes, stands out with about 25 houses selling over the past two years for between €125,000 and €160,000.
Those who carried out the date for the Sunday Business Post found that due to the relatively small movement on the property market, it was difficult to draw conclusions in relation to the data collected.
However, analysts did find that they could look at three main regions and examine the trends in each.
They found that the eastren portion of the county, that runs along the border with Northern Ireland, is by far the most active in the property market.
They also found that Letterkenny, where most of the employment opportunities are available in the county are to be found, stands out as easily the biggest residential market in the county with close to 250 sales last year.
There appeared to be a significant fall in the number of properties sold in Letterkenny in 2016, in comparison to 2015.
However, the price of the average house in Letterkenny rose sharply, up by 18 per cent on 2015, to just over €97,000.
In Ballybofey and Stranorlar, which is located in close proximity to the border, the average price remained unchanged, also just above €97,000.
Further north in the region, towns on the Derry city end, the end of the Inishowen peninsula had relatively higher prices.
Buncrana saw sales prices achieved an 8 per cent rise to €108,000, while Muff had average prices of €145,000, up 10 per cent on 2015.
Donegal town fared well, the town saw prices rise 11.6 per cent and was the third most active urban area for sales in the county.
The second most active residential market was Bundoran.
Activity in the Gaeltacht areas of west Donegal was subdued with only a handful of sales.
Dunfanaghy fared well, with prices up over 20 per cent to €168,000 making it, on average, the most expensive of Donegal's towns and villages.