Compared with the housing stock of other countries, our own stalwarts — the terrace, semi-detached and modest detached home — seem hopelessly dull, yet a patch of lawn can be considered exotic by some.
When it comes to the perception of Irish homes among visitors, there seems to be two schools of thought. American settlers compare Irish homes to igloos — small, under-equipped and chilly. But for continental Europeans, accustomed to apartment living, our insistence on living in a house with a garden seems a wonderfully indulgent use of space.
“For people coming from Europe it is usually possible to meet their expectations,” says Francine O’Byrne of the Relocation Bureau, which helps the families of overseas executives adapt to the Irish lifestyle.
“But those coming from America will usually have to compromise on space. It’s not always possible to meet their expectations,” she says. The bureau has relocated families from all over the world, including Europe, Britain, Australia, America and, increasingly, Asia.
The high price of Irish property usually comes as a shock. “We have had cases of people who have turned down assignments because of the high cost of living and of buying a house here,” says O’Byrne.
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“They ask what the point is of uprooting their families when they’re not going to be any better off,” she says. Incoming families generally rent for the first three to six months and are encouraged by the bureau’s personnel to live in houses rather than apartments, allowing easier integration into local communities.
Europeans are inclined to view our security arrangements with anxiety: “People often comment on the way all our houses are alarmed and they are warned about the need to be responsible with security,” says O’Byrne.
When Ghazala Shah, then living in India, was offered the job of manager of the Vermillion restaurant in Terenure, she checked the internet to find out if there was fighting on the streets of Dublin. “Back at home they don’t differentiate between Belfast and Dublin. They look at Ireland as a place where there is fighting,” says Shah.
Since she arrived in Dublin 18 months ago, however, Shah has been over the moon. Home in Bombay was a modern two-bedroom apartment shared with her parents and sister in a seaside suburb called, wait for it, Flying Carpet. Here, it is a two-bedroom apartment in the new Bushy Park housing complex, which she shares with a flatmate. The apartment costs €1,200 a month and is close to her work.
“So many people have houses here. In India, houses are only for the very rich and everyone lives in apartments. (In Bombay) I had to travel an hour on the train to work and it’s very hot. On the roads there are elephants and cows and potholes, and if it rains the roads get flooded. Here the roads are very wide and there is no traffic honking.”
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Having electrical equipment to help with chores was an eye-opener for Shah. “At home, wealthy people have servants to do the work instead of appliances.” Having a bathtub, not just a shower, was another novelty. But one of the most marked differences was that, whereas young people in India live with their parents until marriage, here they move into rented accommodation with a friend or partner.
Shah, who speaks five languages, trained in Switzerland, America and France and has worked as food and beverage manager in hotels in Asia, Switzerland and Bombay. Her biggest criticism is of the prices here. “The equivalent of #8364;1 is 50 rupees and you can have a meal for that in India,” she says.
Chie Oda, a senior lecturer at UCD, finds Irish property prices reasonable compared with those in Tokyo, a city of 11m people. When she first moved to Ireland and bought a penthouse apartment in Salthill, Co Galway, she hesitated over the price until she converted it into yen. “When I calculated the price in yen it was really cheap. I couldn’t afford it at today’s prices, although it would still be less expensive than a similar property in Tokyo,” says Oda “One of the main differences is that we have houses of timber and paper whereas here it is a culture of stone.”
Tatami mats for sitting, sleeping and the tea ceremony, and Shoji paper and lattice screens, are part of traditional furnishings in Japan.
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When Oda first came to Ireland as a student in the 1970s she expected to find an Americanised lifestyle and was surprised to find this wasn’t so. Irish students kept proudly showing her their new, family-size refrigerators. Oda was too polite to mention that in Japan there were large American style fridges. “I see they are just beginning to come in here now,” she laughs.
Newcomers from South Africa, where property is notoriously good value for non-locals, can struggle to afford our own inflated stock. “South African property can’t be compared for value with properties anywhere else in the world,” says Geraldine Kinsella-Jacobs.
An estate agent in Johannesburg and Capetown during the 1980s and 1990s, Kinsella-Jacobs specialised in upmarket residential property. “You have to be in the upper-income bracket to afford a pleasing home here. At the lower end of the market, houses are very austere.”
In Claremont, in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, the estate agent owns a three-bedroom, two reception, Georgian-style villa with a swimming pool, valued at about ¤180,000. A comparable property without a pool would cost three times the price here, she estimates. But with interest rates running at 16% in South Africa, she points out that borrowing is far more affordable in Ireland.
Kinsella-Jacobs, who has an Irish passport and hopes to work here as a housekeeper/companion and later as an estate agent, is staying in a four-bedroom town house in South Dublin.
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Closer to home, other Europeans still find our houses over-priced. “It is not so hard to buy a property in Spain,” says Alex Diana, a translator. “It is not as expensive for young couples. For the price of an apartment here you could buy a villa with a swimming pool in Spain. Prices are nearly double here” Diana, a native of Valencia on the east coast of Spain, came to Ireland 13 years ago as a student and stayed on. Her present home is a rented apartment in the Coombe, shared with her Irish partner and three-month-old daughter.
“In Spain all my friends and relatives live in apartments. They might own a country house, but that is a second home.”
Spanish apartments tend to be more spacious and have open plan living and dining areas, says Diana. “The ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms is higher. A two-bedroom apartment usually has two bathrooms. Kitchens and bathrooms always have windows in Spain, whereas a lot of them here are internal.”
While there is no definitive view on the standard of Irish homes, there is a consensus among foreigners that our homes are drastically overpriced. But the upside of that is that non-nationals can be pleasantly surprised when the time comes to sell.
HOK Residential has sold a number of properties for non-nationals who are returning home, and most have been delighted with the results, according to Wade Wyse, managing director of the agency.
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“Take the example of some Germans who sold when their seven-year employment contract was up. Having invested early on in the Celtic tiger, they went back to Germany having trebled their money. The property they bought for €400,000 went for €1.2m,” says Wyse.