Two apartment developments in Westminster and Covent Gardens, with prices ranging from £165,000 up to £1.25 million sterling, will be on show in Dublin in the coming weeks as part of the growing range of property being offered to Irish investors in London.

The first phase of a development in Westminster, part of which has already been sold in Ireland, and another new apartment block in Covent Gardens will be on show through Irish agents Hamilton Osborne King.

The London property market has begun 1999 with an air of cautious confidence after a slump in the final months of last year caused by nervousness over the world economy and fears of an imminent recession in Britain. However, growth figures for the British economy and interest rate cuts have restored some confidence although the mood in the City, which has been hit by job losses, remains brittle.

According to Edward Lewis of estate agents FPDSavills, "things have gone off at a fine canter this year. The market has changed very rapidly since the start of the year, led by domestic demand because it is so cheap to borrow."

As always, though, location is a prime concern and two of the central London developments being brought to Dublin are in well-placed areas.

The first to be ready for occupation, Artillery Mansions, is located on Victoria Street in Westminster, which runs from the Houses of Parliament to Victoria station and takes its name from medieval days when the area included a "shooting house" where men practiced with longbows and handguns. It lies just within the traditional division bell area of Westminster, a radius around the parliament which allowed MPs to return there for votes within ten minutes.

The seven-storey block of Victorian apartments, built just over a century ago, fronts on to Victoria Street and is above a line of shops at street level. It is a typically ornate red-brick Victorian building, notable for a three-storey high archway which leads into a small circular courtyard and for two other wings of the building.

The first phase, due for completion in June, includes 47 apartments in these original buildings, known as the north courtyard. They are being meticulously renovated to preserve the original Victorian architecture. A further 128 new apartments will subsequently be built in a south courtyard and are due for completion in autumn 2000.

More than half of the 47 apartments in the first phase have been sold (some in Dublin last year) but those remaining include the full range from studios up to 3 bedroom apartments. The studios start at £165,000 sterling, one-beds at £230,000, two-beds at £360,000 and three-beds at £490,000. Parking spaces cost an additional £20,000, but are not being sold to buyers of studios.

The refurbishment means that almost all the apartments are individually-sized and shaped. All are decidedly modern within. The prices include fitted Leicht kitchens with the full set of AEG appliances.

Apartments in the south courtyard are expected to be more symmetrical, and will include balconies and, at the higher levels, views over neighbouring buildings towards Westminster and the Thames. Prices there will range from £200,000 for one-bed apartments to £1.25 million for penthouses.

Both courtyards will be linked by a reception area which will include 24-hour porters and security. A letting and management agency, W. A. Ellis, predicts that rents available to investors in the refurbished blocks should range from £300 a week for studios to up £950 a week for three-bed apartments. Yields would be reduced marginally by service charges of over £1,000 a year on studios and some £3,500 on three-bed apartments (and by a fee of 12%, if the agents are used to handle renting). Details will be available at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin from February 25th to 27th.

The apartments at 145 Drury Lane in Covent Garden (on display at the Westbury from February 18th to 20th) also involve the refurbishment of an existing building, this time of an office and warehouse once occupied by Imperial Tobacco.

The development by Taylor Woodrow Capital Developments is located on the corner of Drury Lane and Long Acre, and will have 51 one-bed and three-bed apartments. Prices range from £210,000 sterling for a 500-sq-ft one-bed apartment, to £625,000 for a three-bed. Parking will cost an extra £35,000 per space and rental yields, before letting and management costs, are expected to be in the region of 9%.

The apartments will come in a range of styles, making full use of the building's idiosyncratic features. These include narrow poles running from ground level up through all six floors, and curved walls which enclose the stairwell. A show flat has just been constructed and the development is due to be completed in about a year's time.

The interior decor will also include some unusual design features, such as square Belfast washbasins in the bathrooms, Italian wardrobes and vertically placed smooth radiators on the walls which you could, if you wished, turn into paintings. The six floors will enclose a courtyard with a Japanese garden and the block will continue to have its own pub on the corner, the existing Prince of Wales.