The limitations of the Property Price Register are obvious to any househunter because the only useful information it supplies is essentially limited to price. That a property is a “second-hand dwelling”, often the only other data it gives (aside from the date of sale), isn’t particularly helpful.
Much to the frustration of buyers trying to navigate the market by sensibly doing as much research as they can, the register doesn’t even tell the square footage of a property, how many rooms it has, how many bathrooms, outdoor space, the date it was built – basic, quantitative information that should be easy to provide at the time of conveyancing.
The register’s creation was a small step forward in property price transparency but nevertheless amounts to a massive missed opportunity for gathering information on the property stock in the country.
New to the market
Take Bayview Avenue in North Strand, Dublin 3: late last year number 13 Bayview Avenue sold (and appeared on the register in January) for €235,000. The latest house to come on the market on the road, just 1.5km from the city centre, is number 52 Bayview Avenue with Sherry FitzGerald quoting €425,000.
That’s quite a jump – on the face of it – from January prices if you were getting your information from the register.
However number 52 is a very different house from number 13, being larger – a two-storey over basement terraced house instead of a one-storey over basement.
For househunters browsing online an apparently better comparison with number 52 is just next door where a two-storey over basement property, number 53, has just gone “sale agreed” for more than its asking price of €475,000.
But even then the price alone – north of €500,000 – when it arrives on the Property Price Register doesn’t tell the full story. While the exterior looks the same, number 53 is two rooms’ deep – number 52 is one room – and it came to the market refurbished in a modern, appealing style.
Also number 53, the house that is already sale-agreed, is divided into two units so a buyer could move in to the two-bedroom part and have instant income from the self-contained one-bedroom apartment in the basement, changing the financial equation considerably for househunters.
Number 52 Bayview Avenue, the property currently for sale, is a two-storey over basement period terraced house with three bedrooms and 102sq m, or 1,098 sq ft. The back garden is 7m long, there is no rear access, and parking is on street.
It has been rented for some years and was on the market for a while last year through a different agent. Given that the renters have just left and it is very liveable. Buyers could easily just move in, but may prefer to do some work.
The bathroom, for example, is on the hall floor return – not ideal when the three bedrooms are on the floor above. The kitchen could be updated. The living room with dual aspect is probably the most attractive room in the house, being bright with good ceiling height and that “period property” feel so many buyers like (although it’s a pity the original sash windows have been replaced by less appealing PVC ones).
Buyers with deep pockets might consider applying for planning permission for a two-storey extension at the rear which would solve the bathroom location problem and add more space.
