While some parts of Dublin 8 are among the most expensive in the city, most notably Portobello, areas such as Inchicore and the Coombe offer comparitavely low-priced houses suitable for first-time buyers.

103 The Coombe, The Coombe, Dublin 8

€235,000, Gunne Ranelagh, 92sq m (990sq ft)

Number 103 is a mid-terrace three-storey house in need of redecoration. A mere 10 minutes from St Stephen’s Green and 15 minutes from Grafton Street, the location is excellent, with every amenity imaginable within a short stroll. The house’s location comes with one drawback: it is situated on a busy road.

The home’s layout is simple, with two rooms per floor – one to the front, one to the rear – and a staircase running through the centre. On the ground floor, there is a guest WC/utility room on the left upon entering the house and a kitchen cum diningroom to the rear, with a door leading to the southwest-facing garden.

While it is compact, the garden offers clear potential to create a pleasant outdoor space and currently contains two storage sheds. On the first floor there is a livingroom and a bedroom, while on the top floor there are two further bedrooms and a shower room.

A similar house around the corner on Newmarket Street sold for €165,000 in 2012 – considerably lower than its €260,000 asking price. More recently, another similar house on Brabazon Street, which was asking €225,000 in 2013, sold for €200,000.

Prices of other properties in the area have risen to an even greater extent from their 2012 lows – in the apartment block facing this house, an own-door three-bed apartment on the ground floor sold this year for 96 per cent more than a near-identical neighbouring unit achieved in 2012.

221 Tyrconnell Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8

€230,000, DNG Central, 116sq m (1,249sq ft)

This end-of-terrace property is situated just five minutes from Inchicore village. Transport links could hardly be better, with the Blackhorse Luas stop only two minutes’ walk away, frequent buses practically on your doorstep and the M50 just five minutes’ drive away.

Number 221 is the only property on this row of houses without a driveway, and any future owner of the house is likely to apply for planning permission to provide off-street parking in the front garden.

Inside, the house requires modernisation but is packed full of charm and original features. The home’s spacious entrance hall leads to two attractive interconnecting reception rooms, each with original fireplaces – of which there are six in total.

A very outdated kitchen and an adjoining sunroom complete the ground-floor accommodation. The sunroom opens directly out to the low-maintenance, southeasterly rear garden, which is entirely paved over.

Upstairs, the master bedroom features a large bay window and faces the street. There are two further bedrooms, a separate WC and a shower room at this level.

A mid-terrace house two doors up, also requiring modernisation, sold in November 2013 for €170,000, while a modernised end-of-terrace across the street sold one month prior for €260,000. Two years on, this property is seeking €235,000, reflecting the upturn in the market. In spite of requiring modernising, the house offers good value in the present market given the amount of space on offer.

10 Connolly Avenue, Inchicore, Dublin 8

€275,000, Sherry Fitzgerald, 88sq m (943sq ft)

Number 10 is an appealing mid- terraced family home dating from the 1940s with off-street parking for two cars to the front.

Positioned about 100m from the local shops and businesses on adjacent Bulfin Road, the property is also just four minutes from Goldenbridge Luas stop and seven minutes from Inchicore village.

The house has been carefully maintained by its owners but would benefit from updating throughout. Downstairs, there is an entrance hall with storage underneath the stairs, two separate reception rooms and a galley-style kitchen to the rear, which opens out to the garden.

The rear garden is a particularly attractive feature due to its perfect westerly orientation and good size. At first-floor level there are three bedrooms, one single and two doubles, along with one family bathroom.

The layout of the galley kitchen is unlikely to appeal to prospective buyers; however, a number of neighbours have added large, modern kitchen extensions to the rear.

Some have even gone a step further by adding two-storey extensions in order to expand their bedrooms and to provide additional bathrooms. Thanks to the sizeable rear garden, buyers have flexibility in terms of how much space, if any, they want to add.

By 2005, a slightly smaller but similar house on the road was for sale asking €440,000.

One recession later, a similar house on a slightly less attractive end of the street sold for €197,000 in 2012.

A neighbouring three-bed end-of-terrace in need of total refurbishment, 20 Connolly Avenue, is the most recent house to have sold having achieved a strong price of €311,000 in July 2014 – 35 per cent more than the asking price

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