Three-beds in Mullingar for £117,500

First-Time buyers disheartened by soaring prices of starter homes in the greater Dublin area will be heartened by a new launch this weekend in Mullingar, where three-bed semis will start at £117,500.

Menolly Homes, which specialises in producing affordable houses for first-time buyers, is selling 56 three and four-bedroom semis and four-bedroom detached houses, ranging from £117,500 to £174,900.

Selling agent, Brendan Byrne of Ross McParland, expects a good deal of Dublin interest in the Lakepoint Park development, saying that these must be the cheapest houses to come on the market in a major commuter town for some time. The journey is long enough, over an hour to O'Connell Street in ideal traffic conditions. However the road - good at the moment - will be dual-carriageway most of the way in the next few years.

Mullingar has a mainline rail service which, while needing a serious upgrade, does arrive at the city in time for a 9 a.m. start. Sherry FitzGerald Davitt & Davitt is the joint agent and show-houses will be on view on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The first houses built at Lakepoint Park in 1999 by Daracom Ltd are now occupied and several Dublin-registered cars in driveways suggests a proportion of city commuters in residence. The first Lakepoint houses will be ready to move into between March to May of next year and the entire 172 houses on the site will be completed by autumn 2002.

Four different house designs distributed at random throughout the scheme creates a pleasing lack of uniformity. Outside walls are either half or three-quarters brick and render, with red roof tiles and overhanging porches.

Twenty houses in this first phase will be 1,160 sq ft, three-bedroom semis, priced from £117,500, aimed at starter buyers. The width of the entrance hall has been reduced, adding space to the living areas. There is a guest toilet off the hall and a good-sized sittingroom with a box bay window, leading through to a small diningroom. The kitchen/breakfastroom to the rear has an attractive pine ceiling over the working end of the room and chic white units with chrome fittings. A large cupboard housing the oil central-heating boiler has space for a washer-dryer.

Upstairs, there are two big double bedrooms, one of them en suite along with a single room. Good quality wardrobes in all the bedrooms are standard. The garden, although not huge, is larger than a comparable patch closer to the city. Two different styles of four-bedroom semis measuring 1,340 sq ft and 1,500 sq ft cost from £127,500 and £137,950. There are 14 of the smaller houses for sale in this phase. They are designed with an entrance to the side, making room for a large central hallway with a guest toilet off. The sittingroom to the front has a box bay window and a grey stone fire surround with a decorative black cast-iron inset. This leads through to a very flexible open-plan kitchen/ diningroom area looking out on the back garden. The utility room is off the kitchen.

The bedrooms are also quirky in this house. There is a main bedroom with an en suite and a second double room with a fitted walk-in dressingroom. The long and narrow third bedroom is fitted out as a home office, with a tiny room for stationary storage. The fourth bedroom is a single.

There are 18 larger but more conventional four-bedroom semis, measuring 1,500 sq ft and starting at £137,950. Again, there is a good-sized sittingroom and a diningroom with room for a sideboard. The kitchen/ breakfastroom is a good family-sized space with maple Shaker-style units and there is a utility room off. A study/ family room could be used as additional bedroom space if necessary. Upstairs, the bedrooms, two double and two single, have smart white-panelled wardrobes and the main bedroom is en suite.

Four big 1,800 sq ft four-bedroom detached houses with garages, priced from £174,950, are expected to be snapped up by local families trading up. These are large by modern house standards, with good-sized interconnecting sitting and diningrooms and a family-sized kitchen/breakfastroom with oak-look units. A third reception room could be used as a study or television room. There is also a large utility room with these houses. Upstairs are three double bedrooms and one single.

Gardens vary in size according to the width of the house, but all are a reasonable size. Lawns will be seeded.