The address: 494 North Circular Road, Dublin 1.

The agent: Gunne.

The property: pre-'63 three-storey over basement house divided into 13 units with an asking price of €1.8 million.

The landscape: set in the north inner city Georgian areas of Mountjoy Square, Gardiner Street and Belvedere Road.

The features: the agent says the three-storey over basement property was refurbished in 2002 and has a fire alarm. It has double glazed windows and off-street car-parking for two cars to the front. The house is divided into 13 units, comprising eight one-bed apartments and five bedsits. There is pedestrian access to a laneway at the rear.

How much for an investor? With stamp duty at 9 per cent and legal fees at 0.5 per cent plus Vat, the acquisition cost would be €1,972,890. An investor requiring a 90 per cent mortgage over 20 years at a PTSB tracker rate of 3.85 per cent would have annual annuity mortgage repayments of €116,272. The agent says there is an annual rental income of €95,000 but, if you take into account one month's void and one month's costs, this is reduced to €79,167. This would leave a shortfall on the rent of €37,105.

On an interest-only mortgage, the annual repayment would be €62,370, leaving a surplus of €16,797. This represents a yield of 4.4 per cent.

A 31 per cent mortgage at an AIB tracker rate of 3.7 per cent over 20 years would see an investor break even on the property. An interest-only mortgage would provide a surplus of €37,815.

The potential: good rental location but serious shortfall on rent for all but the cash-rich investor.

Verdict: the agent claims that a number of investors and builders have viewed the property and that there is already an offer of €1.8 million on the table.

Calculations by Simply Mortgages