Sustained demand continues to push up prices

First-time buyers of second-hand houses didn't take a summer holiday this year - and sustained demand in locations all around Dublin has continued to push up prices, according to agents. Depressingly, they report an average 10 per cent to 15 per cent rise in prices at this end of the market since spring. And that's across the city, not just in hugely popular spots such as Stoneybatter and the Liberties, but also in Dublin 15, which was until recently pretty much one of the last bastions of reasonably good value in second-hand houses.

Now, it seems there are few properties for under £100,000 available in the city, except in a number of large local authority areas like Finglas and Blanchardstown, and maybe Ballyfermot, or some other good-value pockets, like parts of south Clondalkin. And you can still buy an inner city one-bed apartment, say around Gardiner Street, for around £80,000 to £90,000.

Orla Cullen in The Property Shop in Stoneybatter says that a nicely refurbished two-up, two-down house in Stoneybatter can now cost £140,000 to £150,000, with cottages in the area costing around £115,000. Paul Lappin of Douglas Newman Good's Phibsboro office confirms this price trend: he recently put a newish three-bed house in Palatine Square in Dublin 7 to tender because of the level of interest in it. It closed at around £180,000, some £20,000 over the expected price.

Cabra is a little less expensive than Stoneybatter, but prices are still high, particularly on roads close to Phibsboro. Mr Lappin recently sold a property - a former local authority house like pretty much everything on offer in Cabra - on Offaly Road for £128,500.

Sean Mason of Mason Estates, which sells a large number of houses in both Dublin 7, on the northside of Dublin, and in Crumlin, Drimnagh and Walkinstown on the southside, says former local authority houses in good condition in Crumlin and Drimnagh now make around £115,000/ £120,000. A house on roads such as Galtymore Road or Rafter's Road in Drimnagh that sold for £80,000-plus or £90,000-plus in March or April will now cost around £105,000, he says.

Given the sustained demand for houses within a three-mile radius of Dublin city centre, in a ring that runs from East Wall over to Cabra, Stoneybatter, Kilmainham, Inchicore, Crumlin, Drimnagh to Ringsend, it's not surprising that prices are continuing to rise.

But up until spring of this year, it was still possible to buy a three-bed semi in large parts of the sprawling suburbs of Dublin 15 - Clonsilla, Huntstown, Hartstown, Blanchardstown - for around £90,000. But even these have now breached the £100,000 barrier, according to Eugene Davy, of Davy Freeman Mitten. As he says, barely a year and a half ago you could get a house here for £80,000. But now, with the development of the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, the establishment of a number of large computer firms, and good infrastructure such as schools and public transport, the location is beginning to be valued more highly, with a knock-on effect on prices.

The story is the same in Lucan, according to Declan King of Gunne's Lucan office. Up until last spring, it was possible to buy a two or three-year old three-bed semi on one of Lucan's suburban estates, such as Foxborough or Castle Riada, for around £90,000 to £95,000. Now, basic three-beds without en suites or downstairs lavatories are selling for around £105,000. With the extras, prices are running at around £115,000. In more expensive estates such as The Oaks and Huntington Glen, three-bed semis are selling for in the low to mid-£120,000s.

The picture is similar in Tallaght, where houses cost on average from £110,000-plus. But local agent Tom Maher believes prices are levelling off, and that buyers are behaving more rationally All agents point to the huge demand - and the shortage of supply - for properties close to the city centre as one of the main factors keeping pressure on prices. But as Paul Lappin points out, all the hype about cheap money and the low interest rates available on fixed-term mortgages is persuading a lot of people to take the plunge. Both he and Declan King report that first-time buyers are competing strongly with each other, with an increasing number of houses going to tender and being sold by Dutch auction - the solution favoured by some agents where alternate bids, usually accepted over the phone, are taken from competing parties until the highest price is reached. Mr King says it is rare rare to sell a property where only for just one buyer to be bidding on a house.

Tom Maher, along with quite a few commentators, believes there is great danger in "talking up" the market: reports like these obviously tend to feed the fears of first-time buyers and make them feel they must rush out to join the market. He says the reality on the ground is that quite a few houses at this end of the market are slow to sell. The real problem, says Mr Maher, is the short supply of affordable houses for people to trade up to, which creates a logjam down at the bottom of the market.

Although many first-time buyers in the past two years must have jumped into the housing market with eyes wide shut, wondering how they could possibly sustain repayments, up to now their decision has usually been justified.

Gary Jacob of Douglas Newman Good, a relatively recent first-time buyer himself, says most people who have bought are happy. "Over the past four years, it sometimes seemed a bad mistake to buy a property until you'd done it. And then there's relief, because generally, you find you can keep up with repayments."