Two period family homes likely to make close to £1 million each

As the Dublin auction season gets under way, estate agents report there is heavy strong demand for houses in the £1 million-plus bracket - and a scarcity of property to meet it.

Buyers with this kind of money could have had their pick of homes in the best parts of Dublin four or five years ago.

Today, £1 million will purchase a four-bedroom or five-bedroom period house, either semi-detached or terraced, in a good residential road.

However, it is unlikely to stretch to a large detached house in the best suburbs. Two houses valued close to a £1 million each are launched on the auction market this week.

In Dublin 4, Sherry FitzGerald is suggesting a guide price of £900,000-plus for 74 Eglinton Road.

The five-bedroom semidetached house is scheduled for auction on March 1st. Situated at the Clonskeagh end of the road, the two-storey redbrick has around 2,000 sq ft of accommodation and is in good decorative order throughout. There are two large interconnecting reception rooms, both with fireplaces and polished timber floors.

A large kitchen, utility room and shower room are also located on the ground floor.

Upstairs, five bedrooms share a family bathroom with potential to convert one of the bedrooms to an en suite bathroom or dressing room. This is a good solid family home in a great location, convenient to both Donnybrook and to Ranelagh. The house also has the bonus of a 165-ft-long, well-maintained back garden with rear access on to a laneway leading to Clonskeagh Road.

A guide price of £800,000-plus has been placed on a two-storey over basement house at 3 Vesey Place in Monkstown, Co Dublin, which Lisney will auction on March 8th. Vesey Place is a handsome row of Victorian houses overlooking communal gardens.

Number 3 is a mid-terrace house that is currently divided into flats but will easily convert to a five or six-bedroom family home. Many of its original features such as fireplaces and ceiling cornices are intact.

However, its original coachhouse at the end of the garden has been converted to a separate dwelling leaving a rather small garden with the main house.

One of the most appealing features of this house is that it has three good reception rooms at hall level.

One of these runs from front to back of the house, although it has been partioned in recent years. It has a fine marble fireplace.

A third smaller room would be ideal as a study and overlooks the front garden. There is a long landing on the first return, lit by a wide ornate window, as well as a bathroom.

Upstairs, there are four bedrooms and a fifth room, currently used as a kitchen, that could be converted to an en suite bathroom. There is a second bathroom on the top return.