YES, 1996 was a boom year on the Dublin property market, and the question everyone is asking now is, "can it last?" According to the leading estate agents, house prices rose by as much as 20 per cent in 1996. Will they go on rising? The answer, it seems, is a resounding "yes".
Estate agencies are predicting further prices rises of between seven and 15 per cent over the next 12 months. Continuing low interest rates and high demand are expected to push up values in almost every area of the city.
This is good news for vendors, particularly those with houses in established suburbs such as Dublin 4 and 6, Terenure, Rathfarnham and anywhere along the DART line. Properties in these areas sold particularly well in 1996, placing them well beyond the reach of many house buyers. The trend is set to continue with buyers at the middle to top end of the market prepared to pay premium prices in the fashionable suburbs.
Victorian and Edwardian homes are still the best sellers at the middle to top end of the market. However, solid 1940s-1950s semi detached homes in good neighbourhoods will also become more expensive in 1997. This type of house was undervalued in the past by comparison with older period homes or new houses. But they are increasingly popular now because of their location - usually in quiet residential roads and their generous size by comparison with new homes.
First time buyers could be in for a difficult year. Borrowing money will be relatively easy, but the problem will be finding the right property in the right area at a reasonable price.
As prices spiral upwards in the city, househunters will be forced to look further out for affordable homes to the new suburbs of west Dublin and north Wicklow.
Alternatively, there will be a good choice of apartments in the inner city, particularly in the docklands area where new developments on the former Bord Gais site at Barrow Street, and across the river at Sheriff Street will provide up to 800 new homes. More housing will come on stream in this part of the city in the new year as up to, 1,500 acres of docklands is, scheduled for redevelopment.
Young buyers will face strong competition from investors for both apartments and houses. In the current strong rental market, people are snapping up properties and converting them for rental. This is particularly obvious in the second hand apartment market, where prices have risen by as much as 25 per cent in the last 12 months.
With interest rates at their lowest for two decades, private investors have been extremely active in the commercial property market and inevitably this will continue in 1997.
Last year consortiums of professional and business people spent almost £230 million on investments. They bought everything from a £40,000 industrial unit in Tallaght to an £18 million office block in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre and a £38 million shopping centre in Stillorgan.
Next year the private investors are to focus their attention on the opportunities for funding new buildings for a string of telemarketing, software and financial services companies which are to set up Irish bases. With rents already moving up, they hope the returns will again be in the region of the 20 per cent achieved in 1996.
