More US LGBTQ+ couples buying homes in Ireland after Trump’s re-election
Republican president Donald Trump. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Republican president Donald Trump. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
There has been a noticeable rise in the number of LGBTQ+ couples from the US buying homes in Ireland, in the wake of Donald Trump’s second spell in the White House, according to auctioneers.
Trump won the 2024 presidential election, promising to bring a “golden age” to America, but many queer people feared his return to power could lead to the reversal of hard-won civil rights and now there has a sharp rise in LGBTQ+ couples buying homes on the Emerald Isle, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers (IPAV) has revealed.
IPAV chief executive Genevieve McGuirk told the Irish Independent that a rise in US buyers has been a noticeable trend over recent months.
‘What has happened in the US has made people nervous’
“Historically, we saw people from the US coming here because they had connections to Ireland,” she said. “They were looking for holiday homes but that has changed, particularly in the west. What has happened in the US has made people nervous.
“They are nervous about their own money, nervous about going out and [about] their views. Some coming here have a connection to Ireland but not everybody does. We can see an increase in our members saying they are getting interest from US buyers.”
Among those who made the move was comedian Rosie O’Donnell who left the US just days before Trump’s inauguration in January.
Ronan Crinion, the founder and managing director of MoveHome estate agents, in Dublin, has seen the number of his gay and lesbian US clients grow from “a trickle” last year to dozens in 2025.
“They are looking for a safer haven, a welcoming community, which the LGBTQ+ community is in Ireland,” he said. “They are looking for a little bit of freedom and security.”
A majority of buyers were aged between 40 and 60, Crinion went on to say.
Not long after his return to the Oval Office, Trump took aim at equality initiatives DEI inclusion, and had reportedly verbally or politically attacked LGBTQ+ people at least 225 times even before his second term begun.
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