Area focus: North Dublin

While the property revival might have started in the south of the city, Dublin’s northside has caught up fast.

The only area on the northside not to record growth in the first six months of the year was Dublin 17. All of the other postcodes in the capital’s north, as well as the commuter towns further north, saw sales surge.

The biggest riser in percentage terms was Clongriffin in Dublin 13, which saw sales jump by 1,360 per cent from five transactions in the first half of last year to 73 in the same period of 2014. This was largely due to a number of sales on Marrsfield Avenue but other areas also grew significantly in popularity with notable sales increases in Fairview (140 per cent), Glasnevin (32 per cent) and Artane (28 per cent).

The big leaders were undoubtedly the towns in north Co Dublin with sales more than doubling in Rush (a 126 per cent increase) and Lusk (109 per cent) and other notable increases being recorded in Skerries (82 per cent), Baldoyle (80 per cent), Donabate (76 per cent), Balbriggan (72 per cent) and Swords (25 per cent).

Indeed, sales in north County Dublin were up by 34 per cent during the six month period at the beginning of 2014.

There were, of course, areas that saw sales decline such as Finglas (-51 per cent), Portmarnock (-32 per cent), Cabra (-31 per cent), Howth (-30 per cent), Coolock (-23 per cent) and Drumcondra (-20 per cent) but this was more to do with a lack of stock than a lack of interest.

With the transfer of DIT’s resources to its new Grangegorman campus now underway, Darren Chambers of Lisney in Drumcondra said that many people are beginning to turn their attention to homes around the college.

“It’s almost like the Dundrum factor all over again,” he said.

“Back when the shopping centre was being built, people knew about it for maybe six or seven years so a lot of property had been snapped up in the area by the time it opened.

“I had one property for sale in the area recently that went on the market in the mid-€500,000 range but ended up selling for north of €600,000 despite the fact that it needed substantial refurbishment.

“There has been very strong demand in this area lately and even Smithfield has been benefitting and it’s all with one eye on the campus there.”

Chambers said he believes the bottom of the market was reached in late 2011/early 2012 with the rise since then being “quite dramatic”.

“A lot has been made of the lack of stock but we’ve found it quite consistent and have had a reasonably good supply level of late. Right through the summer, there has been quite a fluid motion and we’ve probably had the first summer market in seven or eight years where people were confident enough to go away and forget about property. For a number of years the market simply never switched on, and the numbers throughout the summer were poor and that was quite the norm at the height of the market.”

Chambers said the number of first-time buyers is definitely on the rise.

“In 2011 and 2012 half of my clients were executor sales. They would normally only be about 20 per cent, but it has worked its way back to that level.

“Skerries is quite active at the moment and coastal areas further north are increasing in popularity as people are being priced out of other areas. When you talk about houses in Clontarf, Sutton and Portmarnock, there isn’t a huge amount to choose from in terms of price levels because they are on a par with the southside.

“There is much better value further north outside the core areas in Rush and Lusk. Dublin 9 also has got relatively good value, in Santry, Whitehall and Beaumont but supply levels in Drumcondra and Glasnevin would be quite low,” he said.

Peter Quigley of Gallagher Quigley estate agents in Clontarf sees similar trends.

“Clontarf, Fairview and Dublin 3 in general have seen really strong increases of late. Traditionally, these have always been popular mature locations, close to the city, schools and good transport links,” he said.

“The relatively small stock of supply has meant that they have higher than average prices but there is good value still further out from the city centre. Skerries is a mini market in itself and I’ve seen people buy out in Swords and Donabate and commuting in and out of the city because they have had to due to rising prices.

“There’s also good value in ex-local authority built houses with gardens. Donnycarney, Artane and Dublin 5 might not be as fashionable as other areas but they are still quite convenient for their proximity to town and have similarly good transport links. There’s definitely good value there.

“There is a lot of demand for apartments in the city centre at the moment too, mainly from non-nationals,” said Quigley.

Quigley admitted that the value that was there a year or two years ago was not as apparent now.

“If there had been greater supply I don’t think we would have seen the increases that we have but in a lot of areas in north Dublin there is simply not the space to develop on any large scale.

“I think as a result anyone buying in 2014 can say, with a fair degree of certainty, that their house won’t be worth less if they decide to sell it on in another few years.

“There is the genuine possibility now of moving up to a bigger house and that hasn’t been the case for the last five or six years. There is a bit of confidence back in the market, the appetite is there and the banks are lending. It’s a market now, as opposed to an imperfect one.”