Site shortage pushes values up

PRIME residential sites have increased in value by 20-30 per cent in the last 12 months because of a shortage of supply and are now fetching the equivalent of £600,000 per acre according to Ganly Walters.

Suburban residential land is worth £160,000 per acre, while industrial land is fetching £180,000 per acre, the company's managing director, Paul McDowell said.

He said an acre of development land in Lucan, west Dublin, would have been valued at £30,000 five years ago. Now it is worth around £190,000.

Mr McDowell said the "outward expansion" of Dublin is putting "tremendous pressure" on the rural environment. It is estimated that the loss of agricultural land to urban development is about 500 hectares per year, he said.

"Present growth in construction is probably accelerating this figure," he said. "In 1946, the built-up area was 9,000 hectares against well over 30,000 hectares today."

Mr McDowell told the World Congress of the International Real Estate Federation in Tokyo at the weekend that the capacity to handle additional development is severely restricted in certain areas although "tremendous investment is being undertaken to expand service capability and improve environmental quality."

He said the location and pace of development is largely dictated by availability of services, particularly in sewage disposal, drainage and water supplies.

Mr McDowell said Dublin has emerged from half a century of rapid growth as "a large, sprawling metropolis". It could be argued that there is a case for restricting the expansion of Dublin if this is taking place at the expense of other urban areas, he said. "Effective regional economic planning might assist in redressing the present imbalance of population distribution."

He said that "intensification of developed areas" must involve the continued upgrading of infrastructure "to allow maximisation of building where desirable".

Mr McDowell told delegates that Dublin and surrounding areas have entered a new demographic era. "These changed demographic circumstances afford an opportunity for Dublin to take stock of its achievements, to make good its defects and to plan for future developments with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity and giving priority at all times to resource conservation."

Above all, he said, the slowing down of Dublin's growth affords a unique opportunity to fashion an urban management system for the entire built-up area - one which can "lead Dublin into both the 21st century and its second millenium".

The former Dublin City Manager, Mr Frank Feeley, said Dublin Corporation's strategic management plan will be issued shortly. "Its broad objective is to enhance the role of Dublin as the national capital - an efficient and attractive city with a good quality of life."