Almost 150 €1m-plus homes bought in Dublin since January

Dublin’s “€1 million-plus” residential property market has had a buoyant start to the year, with almost 150 sales in this category recorded so far in 2018, valued in total at €230 million. (The figure excludes multi-family sales and sales of homes that were evidently purchased for commercial redevelopment purposes.)

In Dublin 4 alone, 22 sales totalled €42 million, while the Dublin 6 postcode charged ahead with 35 transactions totalling €52 million – the most notable being the sale of 46 Park Drive in Ranelagh. The 192sq m (2,070sq ft) semi-detached property hit the market in recent months and immediately caught our attention with a seemingly too-good-to-be-true price tag of just €850,000. Of course, would-be bidders subsequently turned out in droves, battling it out to just shy of €1.59 million for the property, which is in need of complete refurbishment.

Just around the corner at 5 Albany Road, a house offered for sale in 2015 seeking €1.6 million, sold for €3.1 million. The buyer here appears to be Daft.ie founder Eamon Fallon, according to company filings, and he has since fully refurbished and extended the property. Also in Ranelagh, 24 Leeson Park sold for significantly above its €2.45 million asking price, with the 271sq m house renovated in 2005 recording €3.05 million.

In Blackrock, one of the finest homes on prestigious Avoca Avenue sold for €3.4 million after two years on the market. Greenwood, a 360sq m house on 0.8 acres, was seeking €3.75 million and was likely sold to an internationally-based Irish buyer planning a return home in the future. It's currently offered to rent through Bergins at €7,000 a month for two years.

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On the same row, an identical double-fronted home, Melville, was acquired off-market in 2014 for €3.4 million. Extended and refurbished, it’s now available to rent for €15,000 a month through Hunters.

High-end apartments

It has been a good year for high-end apartments also. The most expensive sale was Apartment 3 at the Merrion Hotel for €2.9 million. The 220sq m two-bed unit was previously owned by financier Derek Quinlan. It was subsequently purchased from Nama in 2011 for €2.65 million by the family of one of the hotel's owners, Martin Naughton.

While the majority of sales in the €1 million-plus category were for second-hand dwellings, 20 involved new homes.

One of the highest prices achieved for a new house this year was for 5 Royal Terrace North in Dún Laoghaire, one of five Victorian-style homes by developer Elmhill Homes that complete the handsome seaside square initially planned in the 1850s. Priced from €1.8 million, number 5 is the best house in the scheme, being the only end-of-terrace unit, and sold for €2.05 million, VAT inclusive.