Well it’s all go out Fairview direction. The relatively bijou Dublin 3 village is now home to no less than five estate agencies, each with its own high street presence.
Gunne, of course, is the granddaddy of them all, having traded there since 1985, while DNG opened one of its first Dublin offices in the village in 1993. It is where agents Peter Quigley and Conor and Rory Gallagher honed their bargaining skills before setting up Gallagher Quigley in 2010.
The agent musical chairs continues with Property Partners Kavanagh, run by Brian Kavanagh, setting up shop five years ago in the former Remax premises where Kavanagh had previously worked after it opened its doors in 2000.
The latest addition to the village is iMove, set up three months ago by Shane Doyle, who had previously worked with Castle Estates.
“The idea was to create a cafe-style office and to treat the fit out more as a retail project than professional services so that it feels inviting.”
Declan Cassidy, managing director of Gunne Fairview says the competition is good for business and stresses that house hunters still want their agents to have a physical high-street presence. “The Gunne office is beside a bus stop with a new gym overhead and Chopped, a new lunch spot. Despite the fact that much of property research is now done online we still get house hunters browsing our windows while out walking the dog or with the kids. Many still come in and ask for a physical brochure.”
Rory Gallagher says the rents are more affordable than in premium city centre locations while a large area of the city can be handled very effectively from Fairview.
“The city centre and Sandymount are just a five-minute drive and I can be in Blackrock or Ballsbridge via the East Link faster than it takes me to get home to Howth.”
New figures from the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) show that 695,646 people live in private rented housing, a sharp 52 per cent increase in 18 months on the figure of 455,000 in December 2013. Gallagher Quigley is considering opening a lettings division, and based on trends, others may not be far behind.
