Blackrock has enormous appeal among house-hunters because of its vibrant village atmosphere, good shopping centres and the range of schools for both boys and girls. It is home to the Smurfit Business School, and within striking distance of the main UCD campus in Belfield; part of Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design is based in the town hall. Blackrock also has a public library and an open-air weekend market and plans are afoot to develop the former baths site on the seafront as some kind of public facility.
Its location along the DART line has helped to boost house prices in the area, and the sea is another bonus, as is the fine park along the seafront. Blackrock has no shortage of million pound houses and a preponderance of good-sized family homes where the address often dictates the value. In good locations, a typical four-bedroom family home frequently costs in excess of £500,000. That price level was set last June for a four-bedroom house in Avoca Park, which was built by Castlethorn around 1992. Prices on Mount Merrion Avenue can be even higher. A two-storey over garden level terraced period house recently sold at auction for £725,000.
Dublin has had many great housebuilders, most notably Strain and Crampton, since the early 1900s. Houses linked to either of these builders are highly sought-after because of their scale and layout, their splendid proportions and excellent workmanship. Though Dublin has seen many housebuilders come and go - most of the big names from the 1950s and 1960s are no longer around - Sorohans are still a major player after 34 years and its latest development in the increasingly popular Stradbrook Road area of Blackrock will undoubtedly sell quickly. Like the Strain and Crampton homes, Sorohan's second-hand houses attract a premium price. The company has always concentrated on quality rather than volume since it moved from Leitrim to Dublin in 1966. That year it built four three-bedroom houses in Raheny, selling them for £3,800 each. Since then the family firm has completed more than 30 developments, including Holywell on Upper Kilmacud Road, Sandyford Downs in Sandyford, Stradbrook Hall in Blackrock, Foxrock Park in Foxrock, Auburn in Malahide and Tudor Lawns on Leopardstown Road.
