Three storeys of good value

“THE best value in town per square foot,” says the selling agent of the big, beefy three-bed semis at Castlepark Village.

The development at Mallow, north Cork, has gone up an extra level to give home buyers three-storeys of living space instead of two - a sensible move, when land prices continue to sky-rocket.

As a result, the latest phase of homes at this development come to market with 1,800 and 1,900 sq ft of usable living space; it is another reason to celebrate the scrapping of the house-buyers grant, which arbitrarily capped many Irish homes at about 1,300 sq ft.

These homes come up for sale with price tags of €270,000 to €290,000, depending on locations and options are corner, semi detached and some are mid-terrace, and the price per square foot works out at about €150 - compared to around €190 psf for smaller 1,100 sq ft semis selling locally for €240/€255,000, says Michael O’Donovan of Sherry FitzGerald O’Donovan.

Builder on site at Castlepark Village is John Barry of Castlelands Construction, who has already built around 300 homes nearby and who has further major house building projects in the Mallow pipeline.

Apart from extra size within and a first floor drawing room on top of the ground level living room and kitchen/dining, the specification on the latest launch is high too. Features include natural slate roof, underfloor heating, power showers and granite worktops in the kitchen.