It is a bold example of online shopping during lockdown: buy a private island off the coast of Ireland for €5.5m (£4.9m) without setting foot on it.
The wealthy, unnamed European who made such a purchase relied on video footage to view Horse Island, a 64-hectare (157-acre) retreat in Roaringwater Bay, part of a bucolic Atlantic region in west Cork.
“The owner fell in love with the scenery,” Thomas Balashev, the chief executive of Montague Real Estate, which helped broker the deal, said on Tuesday: “He specifically wanted an island in the British Isles with the kind of scenery Horse Island has to offer. He hadn’t visited the island prior to the purchase but had seen all the scenery and amenities via video.”
The island has seven houses, including a six-bedroom main home, plus a pier, helipad, gym, tennis court and a “shipwreck play house”. It also has its own electricity, water and sewage systems. Three beaches, farming pasture and spectacular views complete the package.
“The island will be used as a tranquil retreat – a place to enjoy the natural beauty and calm the landscape affords,” said Balashev.
The owner started investigating island options before the coronavirus pandemic and sought to make a deal as “quickly as possible” once the crisis hit, said the realtor.
In Victorian times, Horse Island had a copper mine and a peak population of 137 people before becoming uninhabited, the mine and village left in ruins. Gert Kölbel, a German fitness expert-turned tycoon, bought and renovated the site in the 1980s.
At the height of the Irish financial boom in 2007 it was bought and and upgraded by Deborah and Adrian Fitzgibbon. They put it on the market in 2018 for €6.75m (£6.1m) and reduced the price earlier this year.
