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Neighbourhood Watch
Drumcondra, covered by the postal district of Dublin 9, with part of it in Dublin 3, is a well-settled residential area a reasonable walk from the city centre with an abundance of redbrick period houses and good amenities. With easy access to the airport, Dublin City University and the M50 interchange, rental potential is firstclass. Many residents commute the short distance from here to the Financial Services Centre and the East Link Business Park.

Fact File - Clonliffe Square
Clonliffe Square

Flexibility is now part of basic package
The last few years have seen a watershed in the thinking of mortgage lenders: flexibility is now the buzz word. Yet, only five years ago asking for a repayment holiday could have meant approaching your branch manager with a good excuse.

BALLSBRIDGE

O'Flaherty expects £2.5m-plus for period redbrick on Herbert Park
The former Supreme Court judge, Hugh O'Flaherty, and his wife, Kay, are putting their Ballsbridge home on the market, having bought a smaller house in Dublin 4. Their seven-bedroom house at 24 Herbert Park is expected to fetch over £2.5 million when it is auctioned by joint agents Lisney and Billy O'Sullivan & Associates on July 18th.

IN BRIEF

Foxrock/£650,000-plus
Hooke & MacDonald is seeking £650,000-plus for a five-bedroom detached house at 42 Cairn Hill, Foxrock, Dublin 18 which is for sale by private treaty. Located off Westminster Road, house, which is on a corner site, accommodation includes two interconnecting reception rooms, a family room, and kitchen/breakfastroom. upstairs include have en suite shower rooms.
Clontarf/£420,000
A large south-facing garden is a strong selling point of a three-bedroom semi-detached house at 43 Mount Prospect Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Due to be auctioned on July 12th through Jackson-Stops, it carries a guide price of £420,000. Two interconnecting reception rooms have matching fireplaces, ceiling coving and centre roses.
Rathmines/£300,000
A three-bedroom mews at 1 Palmerston Close, Windsor Road, Rathmines, is expected to make £300,000 at auction on July 13th, according to selling agent Lowe & Associates. In need of modernisation, it has 1,680 sq ft of accommodation, including three bedrooms.
Ballsbridge/£300,000-plus
Those seeking a small house to renovate in Dublin 4 will be interested in the sale of 42 Lansdowne Park, off Northumberland Road. The three-bedroom terraced house is due to be auctioned by Sherry FitzGerald on July 19th when it is expected to fetch over £300,000. Built in the late 1930s, the 900 sq ft house has off-street parking in front and a 45 ft garden to the rear. Downstairs has two reception rooms, and a kitchen breakfastroom, while the upper floor has two double bedrooms, a single room and a family bathroom.
Foxrock/£400,000
In Foxrock, Dublin 18, a five-bedroom detached house located in a cul-de-sac at 12 Foxrock Court is for sale by private treaty through Daphne L Kaye & Associates with an asking price of £400,000. Presented in good decorative order, Number 12 has a large livingroom/diningroom stretching the full length of the house. A family room, fitted kitchen, utility room and cloakroom complete the downstairs accommodation. Upstairs, as well as the main en suite bedroom, there are four further bedrooms and the family bathroom. There is off-street parking to the front and a wide side entrance leads to the rear garden.
Swords/£795,000-plus
Joint agents, O'Farrell Cleere and Flynn & Associates are seeking in excess of £795,000 in a private treaty sale for Carlton House in Lispopple, Swords, Co Dublin. Standing on an acre of landscaped gardens, the eight-bedroom dormer bungalow would be suitable as a nursing home or guesthouse, according to the agents. It is approached via electronic entrance gates and has generous car-parking to the front. The accommodation includes a large hallway, livingroom, fitted kitchen, utility room, family room and conservatory.
Castleknock/£240,000
Small houses with large gardens are a rarity in Castleknock so there should be good interest in an end-of-terrace house with a 150 ft garden at 10 Park Villas, off Peck's Lane, being auctioned by Sherry FitzGerald on July 12th. The guide price is £240,000. The 950 sq ft house has three bedrooms, a livingroom-cum-diningroom, fitted kitchen and family room with patio doors to the garden. The family bathroom is on the ground floor and the upper floor has two bedrooms with original cast-iron fireplaces.
Ranelagh/£375,000-plus
Off Mount Pleasant Avenue in Ranelagh, Dublin 6, a modern 1,300 sq ft three-storey terraced house at 2 Bessborough Court, Bessborough Parade, is for sale by private treaty through Kelly Properties. The asking price is over £375,000. At hall level, the livingroom has a cast-iron fireplace and patio doors to the rear garden. The kitchen comes with a good range of fitted units, slate floor and bay window. Off the first-floor landing are three bedrooms and a bathroom while the main bedroom occupies the entire second floor and has access to the attic.
Strong sales reported in first phase of apartment scheme in Stillorgan
Capel Developments has scored another significant development success with its latest apartment scheme in the centre of Stillorgan, Co Dublin. The company's agents, Hamilton Osborne King, has sold more than 40 of the 57 apartments in the first phase of the Dunstaffnage scheme, at Glenalbyn Road. Virtually all the units were bought by owner-occupiers.
Eager buyers snap up 10 houses in Bray
It took just 25 minutes to sell 10 new four-bedroom and five-bedroom homes, at prices of between £329,000 and £525,000, in Bray last Saturday. They were part of the first phase of Briar Wood, a development of 36 homes being built by McInerney Construction at Vevay Road, at the foot of Bray Head. Following the good sales, McInerney now expects to release the second phase of the development, which will be a further 10 units, this September. John Doyle of H J Byrne & Co, joint selling agents with Hamilton Osborne King, says the demand for these large units demonstrates the continuing strength of the market in this price range for well-built and well-located properties.

NEW TO THE MARKET - DUBLIN 6

£300,000-plus Ranelagh semi offers convenience to the city
Convenience is a key feature of an end-of-terrace house at 34 Elm Park Avenue, in Ranelagh, Dublin 6. This well-maintained, three-bedroom redbrick is as close as you can be to the village while still on a residential street.

NEW TO THE MARKET - FAIRVIEW

Designer's home combines bold colours with fine period features
Interior designer Pequita Loring and her husband, Dara Ambrose, spent three years transforming 47 Philipsburgh Avenue, Fairview, Dublin 3. It had previously been rented out and was turned into a home that cleverly combines a bold use of colour and modern design with beautifully restored period features.

NEW TO THE MARKET - CO DUBLIN

£585,000 sought for spacious 1940s Malahide home
A 1940s detached three-bedroom house at 16 Yellow Walls Road, in Malahide, Co Dublin, has been given a guide price of £585,000 by Sherry FitzGerald in advance of its July 19th auction. Care has been taken to either keep or replace original features throughout the house so that window mouldings, maple and walnut flooring, panelled pine doors, picture rails and tiling are all intact. The fireplaces have been panelled-in but could easily be opened up again.

NEW TO THE MARKET

£465,000-plus sought for period home in Sandymount
Number 54 Oaklands Park, Sandymount, Dublin 4, is a solid redbrick semi-detached house that was built in the early 1900s as a modest home close to the railway line but will now appeal to well-heeled families seeking a base in Dublin 4.

AUCTION RESULTS

Blackrock house makes £3.1m
A large detached Victorian house, Avoca Lodge, at Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, has been sold at auction for £3.1 million - easily a record price for the road. There were four bidders at the auction when bidding opened at £1.8 million. The joint agents, Allen & Townsend and Allen & Kennedy, had originally quoted a guide price of over £2 million for the two-storey over garden level house which stands on 0.8 of an acre of gardens.

AROUND THE BLOCK

Rallying call as west wakes to 20% fall in value of holiday homes
The Government's troubles are not all emanating from Dublin. Next Thursday the opening salvo of what could be a damaging campaign will be launched from the west where the value of many holiday homes has been cut by an estimated 20 per cent following the introduction of a new property tax and higher stamp duty. A public meeting organised by a core group headed by Clifden estate agent Matt O'Sullivan has been called for the Belmont Hotel in Knock where plans will be announced for a concerted drive against the new measures. The group's argument is that the housing shortage in Dublin should be dealt with in Dublin and has no bearing whatsoever on holiday homes in the west.
Millionaires move into Carrickmines Wood
So who did buy those million pound homes in Carrickmines Wood? News is beginning to filter out as the purchasers get ready to move into Dublin's first millionaires' enclave. Step forward Pat Stuart, whose 10 per cent stake in computer company Euristix has made him a multi-millionaire; Daniel Durkan of the Durkan building empire; Colm Glennon of the Frank Glennon insurance company; and Xtravision founder Richard Murphy.
Penthouse profits for Barnardo's
Full marks to Manor Park Homes and building contractors Walsh Maguire & O'Shea for agreeing to give Barnardo's a two-bedroom penthouse in Grattan Hall, Donaghmede, at cost price to raise funds for the children's charity. Barnardo's is now planning to target other house builders for either donations or apartments or houses. If you have something to give - preferably bricks and mortar - contact Barnardo's director of fundraising, Deirdre Mortell.
Piffle of the Week
And finally, our favourite piece of estate agent's guff:

NEW HOMES - DUBLIN 3

City apartments from £142,000
The first 20 apartments in a scheme off Clonliffe Road, in Dublin 3, will appeal to buyers who want to live within walking distance of the city centre. Prices at Clonliffe Square start at £142,000 for 460 sq ft one-bedroom apartments and from £174,950 for 700 sq ft two-bed units.

NEW HOMES - CO KILDARE

Five-bedroom homes close to Naas priced from £435,000
The emphasis is on quiet seclusion at Furness Manor, a small development of five-bedroom detached homes near the old village of Johnstown, Co Kildare. A stone wall surrounds the 21-home development and a turretted entrance, which is soon to have electronic security gates, adds to the fortress-like effect.

NEW HOMES - CITY WEST

Turretted homes have sights set on 18th hole
Apartments overlooking the 18th hole of the new City West golf club in west Dublin go on sale off plans this Saturday, priced from £200,000 for a 900 sq ft two-bed unit, to £500,000-plus for four-bedroom duplexes of up to 2,350 sq ft. Tassagard Greens is the first Mulbury Developments venture, although one of the partners was responsible for the construction of the nearby City West Hotel. The new apartments are on the doorstep of City West Business Park, about nine miles from the city centre alongside the Naas dual-carriageway.

AREA PROFILE - SKERRIES

Streets Ahead
Adrian Hendrick - Douglas Newman Good
Fact File
Primary schools
Down my way
I was born and reared on Quay Street in an old thatched house. We had a farm out on the Balbriggan Road and we kept hens and chickens, a few cows and pigs in the sheds at the back of the house. I used to help my mother with milking the cows and people came to the door for milk and buttermilk.

AREA PROFILE

Skerries
Mention Skerries to any Dubliner over the age of 21 and day trips to the seaside and the Red Island holiday camp come to mind. These days it is a commuter town, with a population of approximately 10,000 which is due to increase by 20 per cent when the Kelly's Bay development on the northern fringes of the town is completed.

ARCHITECTURE

Luas plans threaten slick transformation
Connolly Station used to be one of the gloomiest places in Dublin. With its dark, grimy interior, litter-strewn steps and escalators and its fine arcaded brick walls painted dark blue (to go with the orange-and-black trains, presumably), it provided a ramshackle entrance to the capital, redolent of the Third World.

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Radical moves on conservation builds links to communities
A radical "partnership" approach to the conservation of eight natural amenities in the greater Dublin area resulted in the breaking down of "traditional mistrust and suspicion between planning authorities and the communities they serve," a conference in Dublin was told.
High density move in Churchtown
As the implications of the third Bacon report are teased out, a planning application for the demolition of an existing house and its replacement by apartment blocks at Upper Churchtown Road, Churchtown, in south Dublin, appears to show the way suburban redevelopment will take place.
Business park for motorway junction
Capel Developments has applied for planning permission for a business park at the Red Cow roundabout junction of the M50/N7. The proposal describes the office accommodation as suitable for, among other things, "data processing, software development, information technology, technical and consulting".
Increase in size of extensions not needing approval
The maximum allowable extension size which is exempt from planning permission has been increased from 23 sq m to 40 sq m.

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