Good news for first-time buyers as affordable homes in suburban schemes on the way

First-time buyers resigned to moving 50 or 60 miles from Dublin in search of affordable accommodation should take heart. Starting next month, there will be a big selection of new starter homes - mainly apartments - on offer in the Dublin suburbs from around £150,000.

They are expensive - and will be considerably smaller than their counterparts in Portlaoise and Mullingar - but mean no marathon drive to and from work. And buyers will get home before the pubs close.

Meanwhile, those in the market for a conventional semi-detached house with a decent garden will have to trawl further afield for something in this price range. Throughout 2001 there will be a dire scarcity of three and four-bedroom semis - still the top favourite with young couples planning for a family. Tiny 600 sq ft apartments are, at best, an interim solution to the accommodation crisis says Brendan Byrne of Ross McParland, who believes that the vast numbers of suburban apartments and duplexes coming on the market this year may prove difficult to sell to young buyers.

"There's a big demand out there for two and three-bedroom townhouses or semis and there are not enough of those. Two-thirds of the planning permissions so far for this year are for new apartments. That's not what the market is looking for," says Byrne. Swords, Blanchardstown, Santry, Lucan, Rathfarnham, Loughlinstown and Stepaside all have new apartment and townhouse developments coming on the market early in the year. One of the earliest off the starting block will be builder Martin Lydon's huge Waterville development on the site of Blanchardstown Hospital. Here, a total of 1,500 units are divided between townhouses and one, two and three-bedroom apartments. Ronan O'Driscoll of Hamilton Osborne King expects the one-bed apartments to start at around £155,000.

Look out also for builder Gerard Haughey's new scheme of 100 apartments overlooking Marlay Park in Rathfarnham, which is launching in February. Haughey was responsible for the de Vesey House apartments at Monkstown and agent Hooke & MacDonald promises that the design of Marlay View will be just as innovative. The same agent will be handling another apartment scheme at Conyngham Road close to the Phoenix Park, due for release at the end of this month, and a new phase of The Ramparts at Cabinteely.

As always, supply in the centre of the city is scarce, with not nearly enough to meet demand. The focus is on affordable housing in the outer suburbs, with few signs until mid-year of the millionaire houses which marked last year's new housing market.

High density is the new buzz word. In place of the traditional three and four-bedroom semis will be multi-unit apartment, duplex and townhouse schemes, tightly-fitted into the same acreage. Design will be more interesting and big-budget landscaping will take the sting out of having a parking space instead of the traditional front garden. Prices will increase at a more moderate rate, says Ken MacDonald of Hooke & MacDonald. "They will vary from location to location, between 5 per cent and 10 per cent, which is good news for homebuyers. It should help a lot of first-time buyers to get on to the ladder." He compares buying a suburban apartment to trends in the early 1990s, when young people bought inexpensive units on the Dublin city quays and made a profit when they moved on.

"Up to 5,000 apartments will be built in greater Dublin over the next 12 months," he forecasts. With the shortage of three and four-bed semis, these should increase at a faster rate in the coming year, with price stability firmly in the apartment sector.

Ross McParland will soon be announcing a new phase of three and four-bedroom semis at Lakepoint, Mullingar, priced from around £120,000 and at Riverbank in Drogheda, where prices will be in the £120,000 range. Rail access in both locations will attract Dublin buyers.

Ken MacDonald insists people will not have to go out so far, citing Swords as one area close to the city with a variety of housing and good transport infrastructure. Brendan Byrne warns that a shortage of labour combined with new building and health and safety regulations may slow down the speed of construction. "Depending on when planning permission was received, units in a new development have to be wheelchair friendly. We're going to see builders going back with changes to their original plans." Investors are expected to continue to avoid residential housing because of the 9 per cent stamp duty, concentrating on commercial and industrial properties for their portfolios. Ever-increasing rents may attract a few dabblers, however.