Dublin's most expensive site is due to come on the market in the coming weeks. The Chester Beatty Library in Ballsbridge stands on just under an acre of land, but that acre is on Shrewsbury Road, the city's most prestigious address. Worth more than £2.5 million, this prime development-site is being eyed by a number of individuals - as a potential home. The three buildings which housed the library (before its transfer to Dublin Castle) will more than likely be demolished.
Shrewsbury Road, in the heart of Dublin 4, is so exclusive that some people, it seems, are prepared to pay anything to live there. The road has less than 30 houses, and many of them are thought to be worth well in excess of £2 million.
Once the preserve of wealthy professionals, the road is now home to some of Ireland's newest millionaires. This fresh cachet is boosting prices even further, so acquiring a house on the road has become something of a Holy Grail - more than one estate agent is currently knocking on its doors, representing clients with open cheque books.
Dublin 4 has always had snob appeal but in the current property boom the value of its houses has risen at an astronomical rate. Victorian redbricks on Ailesbury Road now change hands for well over £1 million, while secondary roads in the area, such as Sydney Parade Avenue, have seen family homes sold for around £750,000. One of the most talked about prices last year was the £730,000 paid at auction for a three-bedroom penthouse in the Merrion Village development. The apartment had doubled in value in just two years.
Prices will continue to rise in Dublin 4 because the demand for homes is exceptionally high. As more and more money is pumped into the economy, more people want to live in Dublin 4 - not only because it has some of the finest, most fashionable Victorian homes in the city but also because it is such an easy commute to the city. As demand and prices go up, so the supply is coming down. The abolition of Residential Property Tax last year eased the pressure on owners of valuable homes to sell up. Interestingly, the number of homes offered for sale in Dublin 4 dropped by 25 per cent last year, according to figures compiled by The Irish Times. 'With Residential Property Tax gone, people have one less reason to move,' says an estate agent in the area. 'And the longer they stay, the more valuable their homes become.' Buyers at the top end of the market have very little choice in other areas either - although they tend to concentrate their search in just a handful of locations. The most desirable addresses currently include Dalkey and Killiney, notably Coliemore and Vico Roads where property values have soared in recent years.
The most expensive house sold last year in Dublin was Mount Eagle, a Victorian villa on Vico Road, Killiney with three acres of gardens and glorious views over Killiney Bay. It made around £3 million. Dubbed Bel Eire in the international press, Dalkey/Killiney has become the most fashionable place to live in Dublin. It has a good stock of period houses overlooking the sea - most of them built as holiday homes for wealthy Dubliners in the last century - and an impressive list of resident rock stars and racing drivers. Its racy reputation has pushed up prices right throughout the area, even for the most modest properties. Tiny cottages in Dalkey village are now valued at close to £200,000. Across the bay in Howth the sea views are better but house prices are a lot more reasonable. The top price paid in Howth last year was around £1 million, for a modern house on a stunning four-acre site on the Baily.
Demand is generally less hectic on this side of the bay. Most of the better property in Howth/Sutton is sold to people in the area, while in Killiney/Dalkey houses are bought by people from all over the country and from overseas. 'It's just a question of location,' says one estate agent who does not wish to be named. 'The people with big money to spend generally want to spend it on the southside.'
Millionaires aside, those who are trying to get a toehold in the property market cannot afford to be too choosy these days. In the race to buy a home before prices increase even more, house-hunters are looking at neighbourhoods that they would once have considered to be off the map in terms of location and desirability.
'What matters now is predicting where the next big locations will be,' says Paul Newman, director of Douglas Newman Good. 'Ten years ago Dublin buyers had very fixed ideas about where one should live. For instance, no-one wanted redbrick terraced houses, no-one wanted to live near flats, and the northside/southside divide was strong. Now the secret is to find the areas that are going to appreciate, because when one talks of location, one means appreciation.'
He tips areas such as Killester and Raheny on the north side, and Dun Laoghaire on the south side as promising locations, and 1950s and 1960s houses as the period homes of the future.
