According to estate agent Hamilton Osborne King, these are just some of the reasons people choose to live in (respectively) Ranelagh, Dublin 8, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin 4 and Rathmines. They are included in a set of HOK leaflets entitled 20 Good Reasons to Live In, distributed at viewings in 13 of Dublin’s property pockets. Other areas given the “tourist board” treatment include Glasnevin/Drumcondra, Phibsboro/Stoneybatter, Clontarf, Howth/Sutton, Dundrum/Rathfarnham, Blackrock, Foxrock and Stillorgan/Mount Merrion.
The leaflets, compiled by agency staff familiar with each area, are up-to-date, emphasising restaurants, art, celebrities, the seaside and fabled watering holes.
But for the next generation of buyers, all this chatter about yacht clubs, good schools and fancy restaurants falls on deaf ears. They are young, hardened realists. They know their options are to either move from the city or buy a cheap wreck in a bad area and wait for it to become the new Rathmines.
HOK says it has no plans to publish leaflets on areas where affordability is still the biggest draw, and you can see why: the aspirational qualities of places such as Summerhill, Finglas and Sherriff Street could probably fit on the back of a postage stamp. Yet these areas have as much to offer the savvy buyer as Phibsboro, Stoneybatter and even Ranelagh did 15 years ago.
Inspired by the way London agents use the coffee-bar quotient to estimate an area’s potential, we’ve compiled a rough guide to Dublin’s property market. Our barometer incorporates delis, cafes, planning applications, internet cafes and the number of trendy twentysomethings already in situ, identifiable by their white iPod headphones.
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Look beyond the rubble and dodgy reputations, and there are still enclaves in Dublin’s centre with plenty of potential for gentrification and a real chance to make it one day into an estate agent’s promotional leaflet.
Broadstone Basin: Tucked away at the top of Blessington Street, Dublin 1, this inner-city reservoir has lush planting, benches, a gatekeeper and on a fine day, a population of swans. “Streets around the basin have affordable little two-up, two-downs for young buyers,” says Martin Doyle, of Douglas Newman Good. “Owners of homes here trade up to more established parallel streets such as Middle Mountjoy and Palmerston Place, which are attracting young families tired of the commute.”
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Trend indicator: A deli has opened at the corner of Blessington and Mountjoy streets. There are latte-look cafes on Blessington Street and Berkeley Road, and the basin is close to Phibsboro.
Sherriff Street/Summerhill and inner-city Dublin 1: Close enough to the docks to catch any drifting coolness, Sherriff Street hopes to entice trendy, if slightly offbeat, buyers. Stuart McDonnell, of Property Team Lappin in North Strand, says: “It’s still run down, but surrounded by old Georgian redbricks. Someone will get in there and refurbish those. It has to happen. It happened in nearby North Strand, where houses cost a fortune now.”
Trend indicator: house price surges are contagious. This area is within infection distance of the North Strand, O’Connell Street and the IFSC/Docklands, with their trendy cafe scenes.
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Cabra: Guilty by association with west Cabra, subjected to much media hype about criminal gangs, east Cabra remained a no-go area for first-time buyers for years. “Now prices are going up there like nowhere else,” says Paul Lappin, of Property Team Lappin. “Last year they stopped at the €381,500 stamp-duty threshold, but now they’re tipping over that. Young buyers have little choice now. We’re selling to people working in the IFSC.”
Trend indicator: There’s been an influx of young professionals, and last week a developer applied to build 400 apartments off Carlough Road. Parts of Cabra border chi-chi Phibsboro, set for a revamp this year.
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Finglas: “I think Finglas is the next hot spot. We’re seeing plenty of young professionals buying there now,” says Lappin. Parts that rub shoulders with Glasnevin have already seen price rises. Trend indicator: The new Dublin 15, but closer to town, Finglas is full of professionals buying chic, designer-fitted apartments. At Prospect Hill, two-beds, which sold for €282,000 in phase one, started at €400,000 last week.
Dublin 8: “Dublin 8 has more development potential than Dublin 7,” says Eugene Murray, of The Property Team. “Years ago you couldn’t shift houses at the foot of the flats of Dublin 8, around Donore Avenue. Now they’re making good money.” Artisan cottages can still be bought for under €350,000.
Trend indicator: One-off delis and cafes are trickling into The Coombe and Francis Street. Also the home of NCAD.
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Arbour Hill: Luas magic means this area can now hold its own against Stoneybatter, nicknamed Bitterbatter thanks to its population of out-of-work actors. If you’re lucky, you may still stumble across something cheap and cheerless, but as Murray puts it: “Properties in good condition are only €20,000 more expensive than those with an outside toilet.” Move further down the tracks for better deals.
Trend indicator: The new Dublin Institute of Technology campus at nearby Grangegorman has set investors’ pulses racing.
Small buys
57 St Attracta Road, Cabra, Dublin 7, €385,000: Priced just above the €381,000 stamp-duty threshold, this is a three-bed terrace with a 1,020-sq-ft extension. Property Team Lappin, 01 882 5730
34 Second Avenue, Seville Place, Dublin 1, €290,000: A two-bed in Dublin city for less than €300,000 is rare. This 495-sq-ft home saw 15 people at the first viewing. Property Team Lappin, 01 818 6501
4 St Joseph’s Parade, Phibsborough, Dublin 7, €350,000: A 395-sq-ft single-bed terraced cottage off Dorset street, it is gas-heated with vaulted ceilings. Lisney, 01 884 0700
Keep an eye out for. . .
Six things to avoid:
Six things to look for: