Number 23 The Park, Orlynn Park, Lusk, Co Dublin, is a three-bed semi-detached house in walk-in condition in a neat suburban estate just before the village of Lusk, Co Dublin. Built about six years ago, it is for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald's Swords office for £125,000.
The living room has coving and a mahogany and marble fireplace; it opens through glazed double doors to the kitchen/ dining room. The kitchen has fitted timber units and attractive redbrick walls. Patio doors open from the dining area to a beautifully landscaped and very private garden, which has surprisingly mature trees for a new house. The main bedroom upstairs has large fitted wardrobes, and an en suite with a polished wooden floor.
The house is at the bottom of a cul-de-sac, facing a small green space, beyond which are fields; it is a safe and quiet place for children.
In Rush, Grimes has a well-maintained three-bed semi for sale at 34 Knockabawn Park, a development of 40 houses built about eight years ago just up the road from Rush harbour. The agent is looking for offers in excess of £120,000.
The floors in the living room and kitchen/ dining room are laminated, and as in the other house, connected through glazed double doors. There are new timber units fitted in the kitchen, which has a tiled floor, and completely green-and-white tiled splash-back. There is a tiled utility room off the kitchen. From one of the double bedrooms upstairs, there is a lovely view of the sea and Lambay Island. The family bathroom is extensively tiled (there is no en suite) and there are good fitted wardrobes in the bedrooms. There is a timber shed and a large patio area in the back garden.
If you are a first-time buyer - or more likely, a couple of first-time buyers - looking for a quiet home in the suburbs, the northside villages of Rush and Lusk are well worth a visit. There are new and second-hand homes here, ranging in price from around £117,000 to £130,000, in an area that still feels a little bit like a rural hideaway.
This is changing fast, of course, as more and more land that once yielded flowers and vegetables is rezoned to house Dublin's exploding population. As a rule of thumb, if you see a green field here, there's a strong possibility it will soon disappear - so check in the planning office.
But despite the plans for growth, these suburbs have an asset that can never disappear - the sea. And if you have to live in suburbia, and resign yourself to commuting as a way of life, living a short drive or walk away from a beach seems like a pretty good exchange.
Certainly, it would make sense for somebody working on the northside of Dublin. But so far, according to agents such as Sue Horan of Grimes Estate Agents and Carol Ann Galvin of Sherry FitzGerald's recently-opened Swords office, buyers in the area are predominantly local people from Lusk, Rush and Skerries - although Aidan Kelly of Skerries-based agency Kelly & Co reports increased interest from northside Dubliners.
Although Rush and Lusk definitely have that country feeling, with leafy country roads never more than a few minutes away, Lusk is only 18 miles from Dublin, and outside rush hour, it is a 40-minute or so drive to Dublin city centre. There is a good commuter rail service on the Dundalk to Dublin line, with the train station located between Rush and Lusk, and the Number 33 bus will bring you to Eden Quay in Dublin, although the route may be pretty scenic. Suburban development began here about 20 years ago, and houses of this vintage now cost about £117,00 to £125,000, depending on whether they are three or four-bed semis. Second-hand houses built within the last six or so years in newer parts of estates such as Orlynn Park in Lusk command around £10,000 more because they have up-to-date features: en suites with main bedrooms and downstairs lavatories.
Orlynn Park is the suburban estate in the tiny village of Lusk, the first of the three villages you meet after you take the exit past Donabate, off the main Belfast road. (This is also the direct route to Rush, five miles further away in one direction, and to Skerries, several miles in the other direction.) There are some 350 houses in Orlynn Park, a pleasant suburb with a large green with a huge community TV aerial, a tennis court and playing fields at its centre.
Although Lusk is not on the sea, it is somewhat prettier than Rush: it has its landmark round tower, and a small village centre which includes a local supermarket, an antique shop, and a pottery. Its population now is a little over 3,500 - although that will change if the Fingal Draft Development Plan is adopted later this year by Fingal County Council.
The plan - which will have its second display in July, and goes back to the council in September - proposes that 75 acres in Lusk be rezoned for housing. At the new higher densities of up to 15 housing units per acre, this could, if approved, add a few more thousand to the population in the near future.
Rush, already bigger than Lusk, with a population of around 6,500, is already seeing lots of infill development in and near the village's long main street that leads down to the harbour: Aidan Kelly has two 750 sq ft two-bed apartments left for sale for £107,000 in Ceol na Mara, a development of 18 apartments just off the main street. Another development, Finisterre, is nearby. Outside the village, on the road to Skerries, the Ross McParland agency has one four-bed house left for sale in the Lambay View development for £132,950. While a bit bigger than infill, at 85 houses, this is still small scale compared with developments such as Skerries Rock, a very successful 350-house estate built over the past two years in Skerries. A new phase of Lambay View is being launched this September. (Prices of three-beds in this scheme were initially £128,950; new prices have yet to be finalised.)
Meanwhile, in Skerries, Kellys still has four new houses in a large new development near Skerries Rock for sale: the three-bed attractively-designed semis in a cul-de-sac not far from the sea cost £129,950.
There will be choice in years to come if the draft plan is approved: it proposes that a substantial 120 acres be rezoned for housing in Rush. And in Skerries, which already has several large suburban housing developments, another 80 acres could be rezoned.
All this may or may not, of course, appeal to you: but one way or another, there are, and will be, quite a few new and second-hand houses in Rush, Lusk and Skerries to choose from, if you are in the market for something costing over £115,000. You will have to decide whether a new three-bed at around £130,000 (with the first-time buyers' grant/ no stamp duty advantages) is better value than a second-hand property for £10,000 to £15,000 less, which may have carpets/curtains/equipment included. The vast majority of houses built so far are standard suburban semis. Bungalows on large sites cost more - usually around £160,000/£170,000. And although individual sites are available, non-locals will almost certainly not get planning permission to build in the area. There are also some opportunities to buy cottages like the one in Rush above. Aidan Kelly also has a two-bed in need of refurbishment on his books for £75,000.
Facilities in Rush, Lusk and Skerries are going to come under pressure in the years to come. Currently, there are a number of primary schools (three in or near Lusk, for example), and secondary schools in both Rush and Skerries, as well as boys' secondary school, Gormanston College, nearby.
There are good local supermarkets in all three places, but many people shop in Superquinn in Swords - and others nip down the M50 to Blanchardstown Shopping Centre. Agent Susan Horan, who lives in Skerries, says it takes her 20 to 25 minutes to get there on a Saturday morning.
Skerries has a number of restaurants and a lively nightlife at weekends, says Ms Horan. Some people head back towards Malahide for eating out.
