The global trend towards compact living is embodied in the single storey artisan cottages on Cormac Terrace, opposite the synagogue off Rathfarnham Road. Number 13, Cairn Hill, is a bijou mid-terrace house that measures just 44sq m/473sq ft.

Every square centimetre in this two-bed has been put to good use. The front door opens directly into the living room, a long timber-floored space with a wood-burning stove set into a marble surround fireplace at its centre. To its rear is the kitchen where there is a galley-style set-up with a large window and a roof light flooding light in. The smaller of the two bedrooms, really a single, is set to the front and used by the owner as an office. The main bedroom is situated to the rear where the owner extended out into the yard to make space for a room with a double bed and wardrobes.

A slender ladder occupies the tiny plot of remaining outdoor space and leads up, via a roof light, to a terrace complete with artificial grass, and opaque glass panels for privacy. While northerly in aspect it gets decent sunlight as the houses to the rear are also single storey cottages. While utterly charming, a certain agility is required to clamber up and down.

The property has a D2 Ber rating and is seeking €400,000 through agent Lisney. Ringing in at €9,090 a square metre, the price tag may seem bullish until you consider the prices paid recently for similar properties on the road.

Last July number 24, a compact G Ber-rated three-bed of about 49sq m/537sq ft, in need of complete modernisation, sold for €380,000. In 2017 number 17 sold in October for €380,000 having previously sold in 2011 for €280,000 while number 3 sold the following month for €340,000, according to the property price register.

Last November, number 4 (a very different house type) a two-storey property of 60sq m/645 sq ft sold for €354,000 on an asking price of €350,000.