A BLOCK OF 26 apartments already rented at Hampton Square on the Navan Road near Phibsborough, Dublin 7, is to be offered for sale as one lot for €3,950,000. The valuation works out at €150,000 per home – a significant saving on the original selling prices 10 years ago. Then, one-bedroom apartments in the complex made €180,000 to €190,000; two beds fetched €235,000 to €245,000 while penthouses sold for over €300,000.

David Lawlor of agents Hooke and MacDonald is handling the sale for the Cosgrave Group which is continuing to trade following the transfer of its loans to Nama. The Cosgrave brothers have operated one of the largest development companies in the Dublin area over the last 30 years.

The block for sale (on the right of the picture) forms the centrepiece of an overall development of 800 apartments which are on a site well behind a library and three high-end car showrooms operated by the O’Flaherty Group.

The 26 apartments are currently producing a rental income of €309,000 a year. There are 20 two-bed apartments which generally rent at €1,000 a month; two two-bedroom penthouses which attract a rent of €1,350 and four one-bed units which make between €850 and €900.

According to the selling agents, the apartments are easily let, not only because of the high quality fit out – the furniture and fittings are included in the sale – but also because of the prime location close to the Mater Hospital and several large institutions.

Hampton Square is less than two miles from the city centre, just off the new N3 motorway and about 10 minutes’ drive from the M50.

Though most developers have been idle for at least two years because of the collapse in the property market and the banking crisis, the Cosgrave Group has been busily completing the first phase of a massive housing development planned for the former Dún Laoghaire golf course. To date 130 apartments have been completed under the social and affordable scheme for local authorities.