Address: 45 The Square, Larch Hill, Santry, Dublin 17.Agent: GWD.
Apartment type: Two-bed ground floor apartment at €240,000.
What do you get? Around 69.7 sq m (750 sq ft) with a large lounge and diningroom with a fitted modern kitchen with Shaker-style units, two double bedrooms, patio doors to a sun terrace with decking and oak floors in most rooms.
The apartment also has electric storage heating, built-in wardrobes in the bedrooms and plenty of car-parking. Launched by Barina Construction over three years ago, the development has 300 units built in several courtyard clusters on communal parkland.
Where? Off the Oscar Traynor Road between Santry and Coolock, Larch Hill is close to the Northside Shopping Centre and Omni Shopping Centre and a short drive to Tesco Clare Hall. The development is named after the original house which still exists and stands on part of the grounds of the new housing scheme. Larch Hill is located beside numerous connecting road networks, including the M1 and M50. The area is well served with leisure and sporting facilities, including the Morton International Stadium and an indoor athlethics facility. Clonshaugh and Airways industrial estates are within walking distance.
How much for investor? After stamp duty at 3 per cent (€7,200) and legal fees of 0.5 per cent (€1,452) are taken into account, the acquisition cost is €248,652.
On a 90 per cent mortgage at a tracker rate of 3.1 per cent over 20 years, the annual repayments would be €14,505. This represents a shortfall of €4,505 a year when rental income of €10,000 per annum (at €1,000 per month and allowing for one month's void and one month's costs) is taken into account. The annual repayments on an interest-only mortgage would be €6,696, giving a surplus of €3,305 and a yield of 4.2 per cent.
An investor requiring payments equal to rental income on an annuity mortgage would require a 50 per cent mortgage at 3.1 per cent over 20 years.
How much to buy? With acquisition costs of €248,652, a residential buyer with a 60 per cent mortgage on a tracker rate of 2.95 per cent over 20 years will have annual repayments of €9,540 and interest-only repayments of €4,248.
On an 80 per cent mortgage at a tracker rate of 3.1 per cent, the annual repayments will be €13,358, while on an interest-only mortgage they will be €6,167.
Service charge: There was controversy last year when the service charge at Larch Hill rose from €876 to over €1,600 on some apartments.
Potential: With a potential rental return of €1,000 per month, Larch Hill is in a good rental area with two industrial estates nearby. Capital appreciation has been reasonable, rising from €190,436 when launched in 2001 for a two-bed apartment to €240,000-plus now.
Verdict: Once a part of Santry that was less than well served by facilities, it has continued to improve in recent years. However, there is stiffer competition to lure tenants than before with a spate of new apartment developments in the Santry area in recent years and several established housing estates nearby, such as Aulden Grange and Woodlawn.
Calculations by Simply Mortgages
