CityLiving: Prices keep rising - but fit-out and quality is improving too, says Jane Suiter
Despite the ongoing popularity of older properties, Irish people still appear to have a love affair with new homes. Over 77,000 new homes were built last year and the Irish Homebuilders Association (IHBA) is predicting a similar number this year.
These are not all apartments in suburban locations, it also includes large numbers of semi-detached homes and townhouses as well as a smaller number of detached homes. If anything, says IHBA chairman Jim Wood, the trend is now away from apartments and towards houses - and both are getting bigger with better fitouts as developers are forced to compete heavily.
That is certainly one of the advantages of a new home. Few older homes can easily meet the demands of modern day living, at least not without a huge refurbishment job. But in the new homes sector we are becoming incredibly Americanised, with massive homes springing up around the Dublin suburbs and further afield. The homes planned for Haughey's former land at Abbeville, for example, may have some 743sq m (8,000sq ft) of living space. That is as big as many hotels, enough to rival the excesses of many American homes.
But even smaller detached homes are now substantially bigger than they were with 279sq m (3,000sq ft) not uncommon. It is at this end of the market where the real changes can be seen. Gone is the old toilet under the stairs which only the lithest could use with ease. Now thank to regulations governing wheelchair use, downstairs bathrooms are almost spacious. But other areas of the homes are also stretching. Utility rooms are almost the size of old kitchens while "media rooms" big enough to have large plasma screens are becoming more common. Garages too are expanding with room for two cars and often a playroom above, big enough for a pool or snooker table.
Other larger homes such as the luxurious four-bedroom detached homes at Balcartie in Roganstown are also offering far more than ever before. Quite apart from large rooms and plenty of parking, the houses offer plenty of storage, something often lacking in older homes. But again, the details are there with underfloor heating, integrated sound systems and a central vacuuming system.
The semi-detached homes and terraces in contrast have not increased substantially in size but the fit-out has improved. Wood argues that smaller three-bed homes simply do not have the space to offer extra rooms but nonetheless, the quality of kitchens and bathrooms has improved considerably. However, many residents would say that developers could still put a little more effort into soundproofing.
Even basic apartments are not always the old-style thrown-up boxes, most now have en suites and fully fitted units with marble worktops and so on as well as sophisticated wiring for broadband, lighting and sound. According to Hooke and MacDonald, the standard two-bedroom apartment now has up to 74sq m (800sq ft) of space compared to around 60sq m (650sq ft) five years ago. Paris in contrast is seeing apartment sizes drop from around 49sq m (527sq ft) a few years ago to 47sq m (505sq ft).
And of course there are always exceptions: some of the two-bedrooms in Smithfield are as big as 88sq m (947sq ft) while some in Howth Lodge have 372sq m (2,000sq ft), bigger than most semi-detached homes.
Demands in the market are also changing. Wood, who is also chief of Wicklow developer Townhouse Estates, says the trend is slightly away from apartments and towards houses, although this is flatly contradicted by Geoff Tucker of Hooke and MacDonald who insists that almost 70 per cent of all new homes are now apartments and that is set to rise to over 75 per cent in the coming years.
One reason that new homes, whether houses or apartments, are so popular is that prices are generally more reasonable than second-hand homes.
The average price of a new home was €253,000, just €10,000 less than the average price of a second-hand property according to the latest ESRI/Permanent TSB house price survey. But this masks considerable differences in size and fit-out as well as location. According to the IHBA, prices overall will rise by about 5 to 6 per cent this year.
"This is the soft landing we have all been looking for and homebuilders delivered it," says Wood. Any larger rises in prices are likely to be confined to mature sites in south Dublin and a few prime locations on the north side. According to the latest Irish Permanent figures - although these do not break down properties between new and used- houses in the Dublin commuter belt went up 0.4 per cent in March, three-bed semis went up 0.5 per cent while prices for first-time buyers rose 0.3 per cent. That compares with an overall rise of 0.1 per cent for new homes and no rise at all for second-hand homes.
The IHBA insists that these sorts of increases will persist, although it would be newsworthy if they thought anything else. One thing is for sure though - with such huge supply on the market, developers are going to have to compete more and more on quality. That is good news for all those in the market for a new home, whether an inner city apartment or a five-bed on a golf course.
jsuiter@eircom.net
