This weekend sees the launch of the new Luas extension from the Royal Canal at Broombridge to Stephen’s Green, connecting at O’Connell Street to the Red Line to Tallaght and the IFSC and at Stephen’s Green to the Green Line all the way to Brides Glen in south Co Dublin. The added convenience should open up new opportunities for househunters in Dublin 7.
1. For the buyer looking to avail of the rent-a-room scheme
Address: 14 Villa Bank, Royal Canal Bank, Phibsborough, Dublin 7
Asking price: €365,000
Agent: Quillsen
Nearest Luas stop: Cabra is a seven-minute walk via a lane short-cut
This is a three-bedroom, two-storey semi of 81sq m/872 sq ft situated at the Mounjoy end of Phibsborough. The G Ber-rated house has a sitting room to the front and a dining room that opens to a small kitchen to the back, which means you can share the house with someone you don’t know that well and each have a public space to spend time in without feeling like you’re on top of each other.
Upstairs there are three bedrooms: two doubles and a single that you could set up as a home office. There is only one bathroom, which may not appeal to all but is workable. If you installed a shower room under the stairs you could each have your own bathroom space. There is off-street parking to the front for one car and a west-facing yard to the back.
2. For a couple buying together who both work from home
Address: No 7, 13 Phibsborough, Dublin 7
Asking price: €325,000
Agent: Move Home
Nearest Luas stop: Phibsborough is a five-minute walk.
This 75sq m/807sq ft townhouse is one of 12 units built a decade ago and hidden in behind Phibsborough village’s main street. The property has two bedrooms at hall level, one of which has glass doors out to a small yard, which could be transformed using greenery and some TLC. The property’s only bathroom is also at this level.
Upstairs there is a large open-plan kitchen/living room/dining room that is lit from above by a roof light and has access to a small terrace that has a southerly aspect. There is also a second room that you could use as a third bedroom or as a study. Or, if you could share an office space, you could move the kitchen into this room and keep the large bright space as a roomy living space.
The property comes with one parking space. There is pedestrian access to the village from the house via a laneway. Vehicular access will need to come through Phibsborough Avenue, part of a warren of streets off Phibsborough Road.
3. For the lover of period buildings looking for a possible income
Address: 3 New Cabra Road, Dublin 7
Asking price: €750,000 – reduced from €850,000
Agent: DNG
Nearest Luas stop: Phibsborough is a few minutes' walk.
Number three New Cabra Road is just up the road from St Peter’s Church and from the Cabra Luas stop. This five-bedroom terraced property came to market last September asking €850,000. The property is in walk-in condition but its price was dropped to €750,000 last week. Agents DNG now have an offer at the new asking price.
The house includes fine period features, such as fireplaces, sash windows, high ceilings, and dual aspect reception rooms. It has also been given a first-rate upgrade. The kitchen is contemporary and has a separate utility room.
The bathrooms are hotel standard and there is potential to rent out the garden level rooms, comprising two bedrooms, a sitting room and small kitchen, which, while not a separate unit, do feel removed enough from the main house and will qualify for the rent-a-room scheme.
The house extends to 236sq m/2,540sq ft and is set over three floors. There is off-street parking to the rear, accessed via a lane off Cabra Park.
4. The first-time buyer
Address: 20 Dakota Court, Phibsborough, Dublin 7
Asking price: €229,000
Agent: DNG
Nearest Luas stop: The Cabra stop is about a 15-minute walk
Property prices in the Dakota Court building, especially the one-bedroom units, have increased by €50,000 in the last 12 months, says Ciaran Jones, manager at DNG Phibsborough.
Set along the banks of the Royal Canal, this ground floor one-bed unit measures 46sq m/495sq ft. It has good internal storage, a separate kitchen and living room and balconies with views of the wildlife on the canal. The property also comes with a secure underground parking space.
This part of Phibsborough borders Drumcondra and Glasnevin and is proximate to the Botanic Gardens and also Drumcondra railway station, servicing the Connolly to Maynooth commuter line as well as a limited number of Sligo and Longford stops.
5. For the builder looking for a ready-to-go site
Address: 17 Blessington Place, Dublin 7
Asking price: €195,000
Agent: DNG
Nearest Luas stop: Broadstone DIT is a 12-minute walk, less if you cut through the Basin
This is an opportunity to build an A-rated property with cross-town connectivity. Located a block from the Blessington Basin and its adjacent linear park and just a five-minute walk to O’Connell Street, this is a ready-to-go site of 86sq m/926sq ft that has planning permission (Ref no 3723/15) to demolish the existing commercial structure and build in its place a two-storey mews residence with attic room. Novice developers should note that in a recent interview Declan O’Donnell of ODKM Architects estimated that new building work costs range from €3,000 to €4,000 per square metre.
There is an open-plan kitchen/living room at ground level with an outdoor courtyard to the rear and off-street car-port space at the front, to also accommodate bins and bikes. Upstairs the plans show two bedrooms, one of which has an ensuite.
6. For the lazybones who likes a morning lie-in
Address: 10 Kirwan Street, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7
Asking price: €360,000
Agent: The Property Shop
Nearest Luas stop: A three-minute walk to Broadstone DIT
Kirwan Street is one of Stoneybatter’s most charming streets. It is quiet and residential, with a mix of people who have been living there for generations and young couples starting families that love its proximity to the city centre.
Measuring 73sq m/786sq ft, downstairs this mid-terrace house has a small formal sitting room to the front, a kitchen to its rear, a scullery or back kitchen – where the cooking and washing up takes place – and a shower room overlooking a small, north-facing yard. Upstairs there are two double bedrooms.
Parking is on street with a residential disc.The brick-fronted artisan dwelling has an E1 Ber rating. Kirwan Street connects to Grangegorman Lower and is about a three-minute walk from the new Luas stop – less if you have to run.
Number 10 is at the Stoneybatter end of the street. The Property Shop has recently sale agreed two properties on the street, one at €380,000 and one at €340,000, the latter needing work.
7. For those looking for commuter belt connectivity at the end of the line
Address: 53 Broombridge Road, Cabra, Dublin 7
Asking price: €275,000
Agent: DNG
Nearest Luas stop: Broombridge is about a fast seven-minute walk
This mid-terrace two-bed is situated close to the end of the Luas line. It has three rooms downstairs, comprising a small living room to the front and a decent size living room with interconnecting doors through to the eat-in kitchen, which overlooks a sizeable concrete patio to the rear and small private lawned area.The house, which measures 73sq m/786sq ft, has two double bedrooms upstairs.
It has an E2 Ber rating and needs insulation and new doors and windows to bring its Ber up but offers a lot by way of potential. The house next door, for example, has done a sizeable extension that could be phase two for someone who, for now, just wants to get onto the property ladder. On the market three weeks, it has offers in excess of its asking price.
