Value helps drive property at 'Ireland's crossroads'

House prices in Portlaoise are lower than in many comparable towns one hour from Dublin. Michael Parsonsreports.

N ot everyone who moves to Portlaoise does so voluntarily. There's no point in beating about the bush so let's straightaway tackle the elephant in the drawing room. Portlaoise is home to a high-security prison, built in the 1830s, and used "to incarcerate males aged 18 years and over, serving sentences up to life". The separate Midlands Prison, also men-only, is "a medium-security" facility.

Now you might think that having one jail in a town "may be regarded as a misfortune", to quote Lady Bracknell, but to have a second "looks like carelessness". However, far from creating an atmosphere of Dickensian gloom, the prisons have been very good for employment - there are about 700 workers in them.

Other local providers of well-paid public sector jobs include the HSE, the ESB, the Garda and the Department of Agriculture. Work has started on a 250-acre Logistics and Distribution Park which will incorporate Iarnród Éireann's new €65 million train care depot which is expected to create 80 full-time jobs. And, in a bid to spur local entrepreneurs, the county council has recently built a 1,858sq m (20,000sq ft) "incubator unit" for business start-ups. All of which contributes to what one estate agent described as the "recession-proof" quality of the Portlaoise economy.

According to county manager, Peter Carey, the population has increased by 25 per cent in the last five years. He says the town which is "just 45 minutes drive to Dublin, thanks to the completion of the motorway link, and an hour by rail" is the "crossroads of Ireland".

Portlaoise is off the conventional tourist trail and the Lonely Planet guide snootily advises that "there's very little to keep you here as a visitor".

Well, lucky old Portlaoise. Because as people who live in tourist towns from Kilkenny to Killarney could tell you, but rarely do (because we're all supposed to welcome tourists with open arms and a céad míle fáilte), having your streets clogged up with ghastly hordes looking for "the real Ireland" can be most irritating.

Portlaoise has successfully tackled the worst excesses of the appalling traffic congestion that is blighting so many Irish towns. The main Dublin-Cork/Limerick route now bypasses the town thus removing the scourge of those scandalously large articulated lorries which make motoring such a dangerous and miserable experience in this country. Parking facilities appear to be adequate and signposting is better than the (admittedly abysmal) national standard.

Main Street has a pleasant, unhurried feel and is lined with up to 20 pubs, traditional shops, including the original Shaws ("almost nationwide") department store, and an elegant court house. Cafés range from the edgily contemporary Egan's to the award-winning Jim's Country Kitchen, a haven on Hynds Square where you can sample home-baked cakes in a flagstoned room warmed by an open fire.

On nearby Jessop Street, the newish Heritage Hotel, in the architectural style of Caligula's town house, sits on the site of the famous old foundry iron-works which closed in 1984. Hay sheds across rural Ireland still carry the nameplates.

Opposite, is one of the town's many new restaurants - Kelly's Foundry Grillhouse. A case of ploughshares into sword-steaks? (Apologies to Joel 3:10).

Outside town, the hotel's swankier (five-star) sibling, the Heritage Golf & Spa Resort at Killenard (think Abramovich's dacha designed by Disney) features a "Seve Ballesteros and Jeff Howes co-designed 18-hole championship golf course.

It's a favourite on the "corporate circuit" (do senior business people ever work?) and will host the Seve Trophy golf match (Ireland and Britain versus Europe) this September.

There are three shopping centres with more planned.

John Dunne of Hume Auctioneers says about 70 per cent of new house buyers come from north Co Kildare as they "can't afford to buy in their home towns like Naas and Newbridge". Portlaoise offers "very good value - even compared to a town like Monasterevin 10 minutes away on the motorway which is about 25 per cent dearer".

An average three-bed semi in a good area is about €230,000 and an entry-level even less, he says. (The council also operates an affordable housing programme with family homes in the €180,000 to €200,000 range.)

Moving up the size ladder, a four-bed semi costs from €250,000 and a four-bed detached "in a very good estate" costs about €290,000.

Hume's is also the agent for Foxburrow, one of Portlaoise's most exclusive estates, featuring eight house types and prices from €285, 000 (two-bed) to €770,000 (six-bed).

But here's one for the lads: remember those television ads for Carlsberg which featured the "fantasy" bachelor pad? You know, the one where the gormless looking bloke answers an ad for a flat share and finds himself ensconced in a loft apartment with a balcony overlooking a soccer stadium?

Well move offside Drogba! Imagine a balcony with views onto GAA grounds? Why it's enough to set the pulse of any true Irishman racing. Well, look no further. Dunne is launching a new phase of apartments at Parkside on the Cork Road, a development overlooking O'Moore Park.

The first phase was launched in April 2006 when "people queued for two days and nights" and 50 were sold "within an hour".

Prices are around €280,000 to €290,000 for two-beds. Some of the apartments have balconies directly overlooking the pitch as do the communal roof gardens. The development also features a gym, crèche and shops. These are dream homes for stylish Podges and Rodges. They feature grand kitchens where the girlfriend (or mammy) can cook the dinner as you watch Laois kick the lard out of Kerry. Ah, if only.

Over at Peavoy Auctioneers/Real Estate Alliance, Graham Peavoy said "2006 ended a bit sluggish but 2007 started well with the budget uncertainty over". He says there is a huge demand for three-bed semis from first-time buyers from towns such as Naas and Newbridge, 20 minutes up the road, because "they can save €80,000 by simply moving to Portlaoise and buying the same type of house". Dubliners who have moved tell him that they have halved their mortgage by moving to Portlaoise, and ended up with larger houses for much less money and are still within easy striking distance of the city.

He believes that a good detached house might be a wise investment and could "really appreciate in value as development land is getting scarce". As a result, "Portlaoise is crying out for new housing estates" and Peavoy believes that there is not enough supply to meet demand. For that reason, "in the last six months the price for an average three-bed semi has rocketed".

"Maybe people in Dublin think Portlaoise is in the middle of the country but it's a mere 45 minutes to the Red Cow roundabout and the train to Heuston takes less than an hour," says Paul Stephenson of DNG Cowen Kelly Stephenson.

During a recent meeting at DNG headquarters in Dublin's Leeson Park, Stephenson "met guys who said it took longer for them to get in from Foxrock or Blackrock" than it took him to travel up from Portlaoise.

He added: "People are only now starting to realise the benefits of the motorway and the town has really started to grow in the last couple of years.

"Now is the time to get into Portlaoise," he believes, "before prices, which have always been lower than in comparable towns like Tullamore or Mullingar, rise further."

Stephenson said that while a second-hand three-bed semi costs about €230,000, prices are higher for newly-built houses in good areas such as Abbey Court - a new estate close to the motorway with prices from around €270,000. For those who prefer apartment living, "a good two-bed in the centre of town would be about €220,000".

He claims that the rentals market is booming with demand fuelled by staff at the hospital who often have short-term contracts and migrant workers mostly from eastern Europe and Africa.

But "a lot of foreign nationals are starting to buy" and, not surprisingly, "they want the same as Irish people". Which is? A three-bed semi, of course.