Recent reports of a slowing housing market notwithstanding, after two years of incessant and – in some areas – astronomical price rises, investors, owner-occupiers and management companies are vying to cash in on the well-publicised shortage.
Boom-time building practices are making a comeback, with newly bought bungalows being toppled over and additional houses being squeezed into side gardens.
In Dalkey, south Co Dublin, the management company of Glencairn apartments, a 1980s development on Harbour Road, has finally been granted permission for its proposed extension of the existing blocks after a lengthy planning ordeal. The plans include the construction of a third block of apartments, along with a new penthouse level to be built on top of all three blocks.
The plan is reminiscent of the Celtic Tiger era, when mature, flat-roofed blocks in Dublin’s most coveted locations were eyed-up by developers seeking to retrofit valuable penthouse levels.
Among the most successful of such projects were Brookfield Court in Dartry and St Cathryn’s Court in Sandymount. Both are 1970s blocks that have received extensive makeovers in the past decade as part of the addition of new penthouses. One such penthouse atop St Cathryn’s, a 107sq m three-bed, is currently for sale for €750,000 (€7,010 per sq m).
Lifts installed
For Glencairn, the newly approved development will bring various improvements. These include the installation of three lifts and an increased level of insulation as a result of façade improvements, which will see the redbrick development change to a plaster render finish.
While the development will cause short-term disturbance to residents, it should ensure a well-bolstered sinking fund for years to come and higher apartment values thanks to the various improvements made.
Also on the south Dublin coast, a company involving two well-seasoned commercial property developers in February purchased Invicta, a two- bed bungalow on Glasthule’s Harold Crescent. The property, which was advertised for sale as having development potential, was snapped up for €675,000, 35 per cent over the asking price.
The developers have applied for permission for a terrace of three 120sq m three-bed houses – three and a half times the total size of the existing two-bed, 110sq m house.
In leafy Foxrock, meanwhile, a sportswear retailer has applied for permission to demolish one of his two adjoining homes.
Rockfield, a 172sq m property just off the desirable Brighton Road, would be replaced by four detached houses, each extending to 388sq m.
The large family homes would feature five bedrooms, four bathrooms, impressive living areas and southeasterly rear gardens. One similar home on the market in Foxrock is currently seeking €1.75 million (€4,310 per sq m). It is likely that these new houses, given their address and mature setting, could be even more valuable.
Luxury apartments
Ballsbridge’s Percy Lane is no stranger to modern housing developments of late either. Oakmount Developments is developing a luxury apartment development at nearby 55 Percy Place, and has also constructed three 174sq m steel-coated mews houses on Percy Lane. All are now sale-agreed following their recent launch with asking prices of up to €1.295 million (€7,443 per sq m).
A suburban-style mews house on the lane with parking for two cars and an odd-shaped rear garden sold for €460,000 in 2013. The house was then renovated by its new owner and advertised for rent at €3,000 per month. In spite of recent renovations, permission is now being sought to demolish the 95sq m house and replace it with two three-storey mews houses.
The planning application submitted reveals the true extent of the home’s site, much of which is currently occupied by public footpaths outside its walls, which will now be clawed back for development.
The high-density development will occupy 86 per cent of the site, with 288sq m of accommodation to be constructed – a threefold increase on the current structure’s size. Each house will feature an open plan kitchen/diningroom, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two roof terraces per house on the top floor, accessed from a multi-aspect livingroom.
With an average size of 144sq m each, each house could be worth in excess of €1 million, based on the pricing of Oakmount’s neighbouring development.
Gyms and cinemas
On Rathfarnham’s affluent Woodside Drive, a large split- level bungalow purchased in October 2014 for €800,000 is already facing demolition. The buyer, a builder living locally, is seeking to replace the house with a set of two-storey over basement homes, each 398sq m in size, featuring gym and home cinema rooms.
Across the street, 1 Woodside Drive was purchased for €540,000 one year prior to its neighbour. Within a month of the sale of the 213sq m detached house closing, planning permission was submitted for a new bungalow to be constructed in the gardens, fronting on to the modern Woodside housing estate.
This house is now under construction, and its value would exceed the sum paid in 2013 for the entire site and original house, which has also since been renovated.
On nearby Orwell Road, planning permission has recently been refused for the second time to demolish a bungalow at Number 157. In October 2011, the developers purchased the 1940s bungalow on a large 0.35 acre site in the vicinity of Mount Carmel hospital for €552,000. They have been refused again for a development of four large semi-detached houses.
With 24 separate objections against the developers’ most recent application, including parties such as An Taisce, the owners must go back to the drawing board once again.
Scaled-back
Even where planning is difficult to obtain, it is rarely impossible. Those who snapped up relatively cheap sites are set to make big profits – even if they have to scale back plans.
On Monkstown’s Alma Road, a small corner site was bought by a developer for just over €200,000 in 2013, nearly a third less than the asking price. Despite the four previous planning rejections to develop the site, planning was secured by the new owner and it is estimated that a further €400,000 was spent on the construction of the new modern home. This was sold in December 2014 for a much heftier €1.15 million.
If planning is granted for the recent swathe of planning applications, Dublin’s more affluent househunters will have more stock to choose from in the near future.
The total number of houses available for sale in Dublin has been rising steadily, with more than 50 per cent more properties on the market this April compared with April 2014.
