Sucker Punched Boxer Kellie Harrington opens up about 'impossible' mortgage struggle in Dublin

The boxer is trying to buy a house in her native area of Dublin 1 with her fiancée Mandy Loughlin

Kellie Harrington

Neasa Cumiskey

January 25 2022 02:59 PM

Kellie Harrington has opened up about finding it “nearly impossible” to get a mortgage in Dublin.

The boxer, who took home a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, is trying to buy a house in her native area of Dublin 1 with her fiancée Mandy Loughlin.

Now, the 32-year-old has hit out at the “atrocious” housing crisis that’s making it so difficult for Irish people to own their own homes.

“I’m hoping to move back into town, onto Portland Row. I am trying to get a mortgage at the moment but it’s proving nearly impossible,” she told Independent.ie.

“We’re trying, it’s not for the want of trying and we’ll keep trying.

“Now I understand how bloody hard it is for other people as well. It’s nearly made impossible for young people to get a foot on that property ladder.

“I think I’m nearly sorted but it’s been hard. The properties around the city that nobody wanted before, now everybody wants them. This is where we’re from and we can’t purchase a property where we’re from, we can’t move back into the area.”

Kellie has had to seek out a mortgage advisor in her search for the perfect home on Portland Row.

She said: “Times are really s**t for everybody and the housing crisis just seems to be absolutely atrocious and I feel awful for people who are bending over backwards working and trying to build up enough to get up a mortgage. It’s just terrible.

“I can understand why they want their own home because if they have kids, they don’t want their kids to be in the same position that they were in.

“People ask, ‘Why not just rent?’ But why would you rent when you’re spending more on that than you would on a mortgage? Once you have a mortgage, you have something to pass down to your kids, to take the burden off them.”