Houses in Dublin’s biggest commuter county are still affordable, says auctioneer Ian Smyth of Smyth Naas. “In Naas, a good second-hand, three-bed semi, built in the 1990s or noughties, will cost from €275,000. A four-bed detached will cost from €450,000.”
That’s the price of a two-bed apartment in the capital, notes Enda Smith of CME Auctioneers. “Kildare is about affordability. For buyers the commute distance isn’t a problem. A lot of people are already commuting from either side of the M50.”
Price growth in the county appears to have slowed in the first three months of 2018, according to the latest MyHome.ie property report in association with Davy. In that same time house prices nationally rose almost 5 per cent.
Year on year the asking price of a three-bed semi-detached house in the county has risen by 7.9 per cent from €199,250 to €215,000, the report says. The latest increase means that the asking price for this house style in Kildare is now at its highest level since the end of 2010.
Prices for a four-bed semi have recorded the same year-on-year increase, bringing the median price to €277,500, their highest in 7½ years, having reached €288,000 in 2010.
Motorway connectivity
For commuters, the county has some of the best connectivity within Leinster. Two motorways, the M7 and M4, connect to the M50. Upgrades to the M7 include a soon-to-open third Naas exit, that will link to a Sallins bypass.
The train connectivity is excellent, and the percentage of commuters travelling to the capital by either train or bus is now at about 60 per cent, says Éamon O’Flaherty of Maynooth-based Sherry FitzGerald Brady O’Flaherty.
“The decision to move Sallins into the Zone 1 train travel band has seen a substantial reduction in fares making the commute far more affordable,” says Peter Minnock, director of planning and strategic development at Kildare County Council. Journey time from Naas to Heuston is less than 30 minutes. The electrification of the train line to Hazelhatch, Celbridge, is another plus and he’s pushing for the same to happen on the Maynooth line.
According to O’Flaherty: “The second-hand homes market in the north of the county, comprising Maynooth, Celbridge and Leixlip, is buoyant, but while it has shown price rises of about 10 per cent year on year this is slowing.”
Trading up
These three towns and Naas, the county town, are the most popular places to buy. Naas-based Smyth says those trading up account for 35-40 per cent of the market. Most of these are locals.
Prices in Newbridge, a slightly longer commute time from Dublin, are, on average, between 10 and 15 per cent below those in Naas.
In the south of the county, from Athy down, there is better bang for your buck but it doesn’t have the same infrastructure, says Will Coonan of Coonan Auctioneers. “Here a standard three-bed semi will cost from €220,000 to €250,000.”
In the second-hand market, the number of properties listed on MyHome.ie dipped from 881 in 2016 to 764 in 2017 but has bounced back this year with 861 residences listed to date.
Smyth says most of the bigger properties have been purchased by ex-pat Irish, people coming home from the Middle East, the US and Australia that have built-up good buying budgets.
