A fixer-upper in Fairview for €345,000 - or could it go higher?

A three-bedroom terraced house in Fairview, Dublin 3 goes on view on Saturday for the first time when its selling agent expects a queue at the front door. Ray Dunne of Kelly Bradshaw Dalton will be showing 9 Lomand Avenue at noon but already he has taken “a lot of calls ” on the redbrick which needs full renovation.

It’s a pretty house located in one of a network of roads off Philipsburg Avenue, but the main attraction here is the asking price which is pitched to attract double income couples with a sizeable deposit saved. However, Mr Dunne says he expects the price to go considerably higher as “there are twice as many people looking for houses as there are homes to sell them.”

Competition has driven up values sharply in the area since the beginning of the year with homes that started at that same €345,000 level selling for between €390,000 and €408,000. Mr Dunne recalls a recent case where on the same days as his agency’s For Sale sign went up on a house on a nearby avenue, he got an offer of €30,000 over the asking price to “take it off the market”. The offer wasn’t accepted and the house was eventually sold for almost over €40,000 more than the start price.

Dunne maintains that while these increases are startling, house prices in the neighbourhood have not fully recovered to the levels seen in the boom. He quotes the case of Charlemont, a modern development off Griffith Avenue in Drumcondra where three-bedroom homes had been heading towards €600,000 in 2008. He recently sold a three-bedroom there for €510,000. It had started out with an asking price of €460,000.

The house at Lomand Avenue dates from 1906 is a reasonble size at 87 sq m (941 sq ft). It has a traditional layout with interconnecting reception rooms, both with period fireplaces. There’s a scullery style kitchen leading off the diningroom and a single bathroom leading off the first landing. The first floor has two bedrooms withthe main bedroom spanning the front of the house. The third bedroom is in the attic. The back garden is small with a sunny orientation.