WORTH THE INVESTMENT

The address: 81 King's Court, Parnell Street, Dublin 1.

The address: 81 King's Court, Parnell Street, Dublin 1.

The agent:Savills HOK.

The property: top floor one-bed apartment with an asking price of €235,000.

The landscape:what this unremarkable-looking development lacks in aesthetics it makes up for with a handy north city location. It is close to the Ilac with an Aldi downstairs. The Luas is a few minutes walk, Henry Street and O'Connell Street are just around the corner and there is no shortage of services and shops on your doorstep.

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The features: there are around 120 apartments in King's Court. Number 81 is laid out over 37sq m (398sq ft), and is a standard one-bed city centre flat. It is not the prettiest but is in reasonable condition. Management fees are €1,800 a year and the apartment comes with one underground car-parking space.

How much for an investor to buy?The maximum loan AIB will consider for an investment property is 85 per cent of the value, with up to 100 per cent LTV considered for portfolio investors (subject to the overall LTV of the portfolio not exceeding 75 per cent). The maximum term is 25 years.

An 85 per cent mortgage will require an equity input of €35,250. At AIB's buy-to-let five-year fixed rate of 5.75 per cent (APR 5.86 per cent), the repayments would be around €1,254 per month. On an interest-only basis the monthly repayments will be €949 (based on AIB's variable rate of 5.7 per cent, APR 5.83 per cent).

How much for an owner-occupier to buy?First-time buyers borrowing up to 92 per cent of the property price would need a salary of around €46,000 to fund this mortgage over 35 years and a couple would require minimum incomes of around €25,000.

On AIBs two-year fixed-rate of 5.2 per cent (APR 5.55 per cent) the repayments would be around €1,116 per month.

Repayments on the bank's standard variable rate of 5.5 per cent (APR 5.62 per cent) would be around €1,157 per month.

Potential: given that it has a parking space, always a big plus in the city centre, this apartment will get around €1,100 to €1,200 a month in rent.

Verdict: going on the above rental prediction investors on an interest-only mortgage will cover their costs.

• Calculations by AIB