The address: Apartment 2, 37 North Lotts Road, Dublin 1.

The agent: Hamilton Osborne King.

The property: one-bedroom second floor apartment in new three-unit scheme for €450,000.

The look: this is an ultra modern building that comes with floor-to-ceiling windows and good-sized balconies.

The landscape: around the corner from O'Connell Street, North Lotts Road runs parallel to Middle Abbey Street and Bachelors Walk.

The features: this 64sq m (685sq ft) apartment has an entrance hall, a livingroom, a fully fitted kitchen and double bedroom.

The bathroom is fully tiled and has a bath and power shower. Wooden floors and mounted lighting are found throughout. There is no car-parking.

How much for an investor to buy? If you add the stamp duty at 7.5 per cent and 0.5 per cent of the purchase price for legal fees, plus Vat, the acquisition cost would be €486,473.

The annual repayments on a 90 per cent mortgage over 20 years at a PTSB tracker rate of 3.85 per cent would be €29,068.

The rental income is calculated at around €10,000 per annum, leaving a shortfall of €19,068.

On an interest-only mortgage the annual repayments would be €15,593 leaving a shortfall of €5,593. The yield would be 2.2 per cent.

How much for an owner-occupier to buy? The repayments on a 92 per cent loan at a variable tracker rate of 3.85 per cent over 20 years would be €2,476 per month.

Potential: right in the city centre, there is no shortage of young urbanities looking for city rental accommodation.

The lack of car-parking, however, is a drawback.

Verdict: an investor would make big losses on this unless they were able to put some serious capital into the property. But the property might be more suited to a first-time buyer looking out for a slice of city life.

Calculations by Simply Mortgages