The tiny village of Johnstown along the Naas dual carriageway in Co Kildare was swamped by new homes buyers last weekend when showhouses opened for the first time in an expensive scheme of four and five-bedroom detached units. Several thousand people turned up to view the development, the first at the upper end of the market to be launched this year. All 30 houses in the first phase were sold by Saturday afternoon and a further 20 were then released off the plans. Fourteen of these were also booked by close of business on Sunday, bringing sales to 44 units with a revenue of £10 million.

Most of the homes were bought by couples trading up from housing estates in south and west Dublin and Co Kildare. Four-bedroom detached houses were priced mainly from £180,000 to £190,000 while the five bedroom detached units cost from £230,000 to £250,000. Dublin estate agents Hooke & MacDonald and Coonan of Maynooth handled sales in the scheme which will have a total of 66 homes. Johnstown village is a little over one mile from Naas and 18 miles from Dublin.