Starter home: Cork City, €134,950

There’s huge character, as well as internal and external appeal, to the apartments at Bridge House in the very heart of Cork city. 

A handful of apartments were developed in this Victorian red-brick, a former post office sorting depot, in the ’90s, and resales are infrequent.

Agent Stephen Clarke of REA O’Donoghue Clarke guides a second floor two-bed of 600 sq ft here at just shy of €135,000, noting its character, with exposed sandstone walls internally as well as River Lee views, opposite the bus station and two minutes to Patrick Street.