It's a sign of the demand in Dublin 6 and the preference for period red-bricks that a two-bedroom terraced house, 15 Gulistan Terrace in Rathmines, is fresh on the market with an asking price of €675,000 through Gunne.
The most recent sale on the street was late last year when a very different style of house, a detached one-storey over garden level villa-style, across the road from number 15, sold for €660,000. Another smaller villa-style house on the street is for auction on February 20th with an AMV of €500,000.
The owner of number 15 bought the house more than 10 years ago when he carried out an extensive renovation throughout and extended into the long (26.5m) back garden. He has now moved abroad.
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In terms of style, the work has stood the test of time and, apart from a few coats of paint, new owners shouldn’t have to do anything before moving in.
Cricket matches
The renovation changed the original layout at hall level. The door into the front room was removed and the opening doubled in width so that the hall and front livingroom are almost open plan.
That room, which is now used as a formal diningroom, opens into the eat-in kitchen which is fitted with smart- looking cream-coloured units. Double doors between the dining room and the kitchen can be opened to create one large space.
A curious choice during the renovation was not to include a door opening out from the kitchen to the back garden – something that most people might prefer, if only for the convenience when hanging clothes on the line.
The livingroom is in the bright, pitched-roof extension at the back of the house. It looks on to the long back garden and out towards the Leinster cricket grounds. Indeed, the owner had a paved patio built at the end of the garden so that in the summer he could sit and enjoy the cricket matches.
There is another paved patio directly outside the living room and, in between, the long narrow landscaped garden has been planted and designed for easy maintenance.
Upstairs, there is a modern fully-tiled bathroom in the return and two double bedrooms. The largest runs the width of the house and in other houses on this terrace it has been divided to make two single rooms.
In all, there is 127sq m (1,360sq ft) of space in number 15.
A consideration for any buyer on Gulistan Terrace is that it is the access road into a large and busy Dublin City Council waste facility – which means heavy trucks passing the door early in the morning and a steady stream of cars delivering recyclables to the facility's well-managed bring centre. And it's not a five-day week operation – it was, for example, open for Christmas tree recyclers on Sundays. Parking is on-street to the front.
House prices in Ranelagh continue to rise at a rate far beyond the Dublin average. Take number 6, Upper Mount Pleasant Avenue, a two-bedroom end-of-terrace house that is 80sq m (861sq ft) in size and situated on a busy two-way commuter route that isn't wide enough to accommodate the levels of traffic that pass through it. The property is asking €475,000 through agents SherryFitzGerald.
Hefty when compared to the price 13 months ago of a neighbouring property, number 20 Upper Mountpleasant Avenue, a four-bedroom end of terrace house, 101sq m (1,087sq ft) in size, that sold for €312,000, according to agent Youngs. That’s a price per square metre (psm) of €3,089.
In the period from December 2012 to December 2013, house prices in Dublin increased by 15.3 per cent according to figures published by the Central Statistics Office.
When you do the sums on number 6 the asking price is €5,878psm, representing a potential increase of 48 per cent psm on the street in just over a year.
New roof
So what do you get for your money? The house opens directly into what agents are calling the diningroom, a space where the floor-to- ceiling height is 2.29m (7.5ft).
A step up takes you into the kooky kitchen, double- height in parts and all bare red-brick walls, tiled countertops and curious angles. The sittingroom is a good size and has a cast-iron fireplace.
The house has a very small, east-facing front garden and a small yard to the side that has a south-westerly aspect, high brick walls and pedestrian side access, handy for storing bins.
A narrow staircase leads upstairs to two good-size double bedrooms, one of which has built-in wardrobes.
There is salvage sanitary ware in the bathroom, including a Victorian toilet and a deep, claw-foot tub hidden under the eaves. Its ceramic finish has been painted over.
The vendor bought the house in 2004 and added a new roof to the property. The next buyer may want to look at upgrading the upstairs windows.
The house had been rented and was achieving a monthly income of €1,600. The agents believe it could make up to €1,800 per month. The period house is BER exempt.
