Time for a showdown

AFTER a year of strong new house price inflation, the show units at three of Cork's residential developments have hit the market.

Show houses have a particular type of buyer: some houses appeal to investors who don't want the hassle of fitting out a place to rent; others don't want the interior fit-out bother for themselves and are too pressed for time to wait on a builder, and then have to furnish.

The asking prices for the three very different sort of homes (detached house, semi-detached bungalow, and apartment) now on offer, reflect the jump in values since each scheme began. Over €600,000 is expected for the pristine four-bed detached house at 1 Greendale Road in the 500-house O'Brien and O'Flynn scheme, Maryborough Woods in Douglas. It has a corner site and overlooks Douglas Golf Club clubhouse, with views of the Lee from its upper floors.

Similar houses at this development, now past the half way mark in sales and selling as fast as units are released, first went on offer for €340,000/430,000.

New five-beds here are selling here off Maryborough Hill from €565,000, but this particular 1,975 sq ft four-bed has the added attraction of being ready for occupation. Auctioneer Olivia O'Leary of Thomas J O'Driscoll auctioneers points out that there is €75,000 worth of Casey's furniture in the house, which only attracts minimal stamp duty. Two of the four bedrooms have en suite bathrooms, there's a fully tiled main bathroom, and a guest loo at ground level.

The ground floor has three large reception rooms, a spacious kitchen, a dining room with a bay window at the back, and landscaped gardens with brick paved front drive.

Also in the Douglas/Rochestown vicinity and near the link road, a two-bed apartment at Ronayn's Court a sold-out scheme of 36 apartments by O'Brien and O'Flynn and again fully furnished is up for sale on the Rochestown Road. It carries a price guide in excess of €250,000, up from an initial sales launch of these units of around €200,000.

Sales at Ronayn's Court rushed onwards as investors came back into the market in 2002, even though the well-finished development now has more private occupiers than investors, says New Homes agent Trish Stokes of Sherry FitzGerald's Cork office.

The completed and landscaped scheme is secure, with electronically controlled access gates, and this two-bed is at ground level with two entrances: one to a shared courtyard, the other to an entrance lobby by the parking area. Finally, Ms Stokes is selling the bungalow showhouse at the Ashmount scheme in Tivoli, another O'Brien and O'Flynn scheme. The three-bedroom 880 sq ft semi-d bungalow is likely to have a private, first time family buyer. Guide price is €200,000.