By lunchtime yesterday more than 30 people had joined a queue for new houses in Dundalk - four days before they go on sale. The three-bedroom terraced and semi-detached homes start at £79,500 (€100,944) and will not go on sale until Monday morning.

Fifty houses will be released in the first phase of the development at Castle Ross on the Castletown Road in Dundalk. All qualify for first-time buyer's grant and come with a fitted kitchen, marble fireplace with mahogany surround and a coal effect gas fire. The houses are under construction and are within 15 minutes walk of the town centre, close to the recently opened Carroll Village shopping centre. The developer is McCaughey Developments and the estate agent is Mr Michael Lavelle of Bridge Street.

"There will be no gazumping here. I sell between 150 and 200 houses a year for McCaughey and, when these houses are sold and the deposit paid, the price will remain as is.

"The queue is here because the prices are so low, the site is excellent and it is a sign that our town, which has been in the doldrums for many years, is now the most up and coming town in Ireland. People are flocking into it," Mr Lavelle said.

The opening of Xerox will bring approximately 1,800 new jobs into the Border town as well as anticipated substantial spin-offs to the local community. It is also just 55 miles from Belfast and Dublin.

One of those queuing in the summer sunshine yesterday was Ms Eileen Woodcock. "I am here for my son Andrew, who works in Dublin and commutes every day. The houses [here] are much cheaper than Dublin; sure you couldn't buy a house in Dublin."

First in the queue was Mr Colm Corrigan from Annagassen, a few miles south of Dundalk. He heard through mortgage advisers and solicitors that there was demand for the new scheme and decided to get a head start. "There was a queue before in Dundalk for a scheme last year. When I enquired about a mortgage I was told there were a lot of people enquiring about mortgages for the houses. I expected to have to queue."

While the aspiring homeowners believe they are getting a bargain as well as a house, the most laidback participants in the race for the properties were students who were happy to be collecting £50 a day from the prospective purchasers to keep their place in the queue.

"I got a call from a friend in Dundalk this morning to get out of bed and come up. I am getting paid for this for the next four days. It doesn't bother me to sit in the sun all day," said one.