Once a peninsula of green fields and country estates, Mahon in Cork has in recent decades developed into a sprawling suburb of mixed residential housing, a rapid transformation which along with other social factors resulted in it becoming an area of high unemployment.

CORK’S Blackrock is known for its fine houses, waterside walks, and of course the castle. The area is convenient to the city, as well as the newly opened Mahon Point centre.

The Irish retail market is set for another bumper year during 2005 as a result of the strength of growth in the stock of shopping centre space, a new report from DTZ Sherry FitzGerald said today.

IT only takes a little tweaking to lift a three-bedroomed semi above the norm. Take Castle Meadows for instance.

RIGHT next door to the new Mahon Point centre, due to open by spring of next year, this house on St Michael’s Drive, Blackrock, Cork, can offer good capital appreciation and a strong letting demand, says selling agent, Kathleen O’Shea.