Suburban semi-d’s back in demand

IF you can believe them, house price surveys and market commentators say price drops are close to bottoming out on older houses, in long-established and popular city residential locations.

Sure, new and nearly-built stock in far-flung secondary locations will take years to match up with buyers — but the old ground rules of location X 3, and pent-up demand, may be seeing stability returning in the settled, three-bed suburban market.

In Cork city’s case, semi-d building boomed from the late 1940s onwards, in locations like Bishopstown, Douglas, within a walk, car, bus or bike ride of the city centre. Now, the generation that were reared in them are glad to get the chance to move back to old stomping grounds.