Home Truths

Real value for money - not PR-speak - will be key in 2008, says Edel Morgan

With 2008 looking like being a challenging year for estate agents and developers, it remains to be seen what rabbits they are going to have to pull out of the hat to survive the next six to 12 months. Since the slowdown began in earnest last year, some were already starting to think laterally. A well known agent, for example, seems to have branched out to become the estate agents' division of Bord Fáilte - not only producing brochures for properties, but also a series of leaflets promoting various Dublin areas entitled 20 Good Reasons to live in...

The one I picked up was 20 Good Reasons to live in Glasnevin & Drumcondra and, had I not grown up in that general area, reading it would make me want to move there immediately, market slowdown or no market slowdown. The trouble is that I did grow up there and, don't get me wrong, it's a very nice place to live (if you can afford it) but the landmarks and amenities I'd taken for granted for all those years are presented as compelling reasons to buy in the area. Even the cemetery has been drafted in as a reason because of its "famous interees and rich funerary architecture and sculpture". "I'm moving to Glasnevin because it boasts Ireland's premier graveyard" is not something one tends to hear very often.

Apparently the Glasnevin/Drumcondra area is "a place of diversity", where "the sliotar and the skateboard co-exist happily" and where there is "an embarrassment" of primary and secondary schools. If that wasn't enough, the secluded banks of the River Tolka are "a haven for both peace seeking humans and foxes, deers, stoats and badgers".

Another reason you might move to Glasnevin/Drumcondra is to beat the clock. "If time is money, moving here will save you a packet," it enthuses. Getting into town involves "a healthy walk", a downhill cycle, a three-minute Arrow ride or a quick bus trip. If you want to get out of the country "the airport is just up the road". That's 4.6 kms up the road from Glasnevin to be exact, but that's just me being pedantic. If all of that doesn't entice you, did you know that Fagan's in Drumcondra is the Taoiseach's local? "Even if Bertie isn't entertaining Bill Clinton the night you drop by, you'll still enjoy good pints, food and atmosphere," says the brochure.

If the market gets tougher as predicted this year, action might ultimately prove more effective than words. Sligo developer John Leyden and sons, for example, is using the carrot of a raffle to entice people to invest in the last four tax-designated apartments in Corn Mill Park in Ballymote, Co Sligo for €175,000. The prize: an apartment, which purchasers have a one-in-12 chance of winning if they buy before January 18th.

And it will be interesting to see if more developers follow Capel Construction's lead and drastically reduce the prices of new homes that have been languishing on the market. Capel hit the headlines recently when they slashed up to €100,000 off the price of apartments at The Crescent in Ashtown, Dublin 15.

The brash "massive savings" ad campaign for The Crescent shows that while estate agents and developers are having to think outside the box to shift units, their advertising is becoming more focused. Glossy campaigns built around the pretence that average new homes developments are really exclusive clubs inhabited by beautiful people are giving way to the call-a-spade-a-spade Harvey Norman style of advertising.

In the current climate with budgets tight and future capital appreciation uncertain, buyers no longer have the luxury of being swayed by lifestyle advertising. They want to know they are getting value for money.

- emorgan@irish-times.ie