Return of Rochestown des-res

The guide for this substantial four bed detached home indicates a resurgent market, writes Tommy Barker.

Rochestown, Cork €575,000

Sq m 186 (2,010 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 3

BER: C1

NOW about 15 years old, the brick-faced homes at Abbottswood Downs in Cork’s Rochestown are continuing to mellow into their hillside setting near the monastery and college — hence ’abbott’ in the address.

This week, No 1 in the scheme of over a dozen large detacheds is up for sale: homes here got bigger as they rose up towards the top of the hill (and the higher the house numbers went) as the development progressed.

It was started by Fleming Construction, and the last few were done by a firm called Kona: No 1 is one of the earlier, more standard, but still substantial, 2,000 sq ft builds.

On a sloping site with long side and back lawns by the entrance, above Monastery Road, No 1 is guided at €575,000 by agents Niamh Moloney and Ann O’Mahony of Sherry FitzGerald, who’ve hit that sort of €500k-plus sum recently also in the Mount Oval scheme off Clarkes Hill.

At one stage, the largest houses here at Abbottswood Downs hit the €1m threshold, but in more recent years there’s only been a handful of sales.

No 3 in the Downs section shows up on the Price Register in early 2013 at €392,000, while No 7 sold in 2013 for a reported €440,000, so clearly the market for good detached family homes has well and truly gathered pace from the slump.

The agents say it’s a bright home with high ceilings on both levels, has four double bedrooms with built-in wardrobes and one’s en suite, on nicely matured grounds, with off-street parking to the front.

At ground level it has a quite traditional layout of front and back reception rooms, interlinked — only they are far bigger than in the average home.

There’s a 17’ by 13’ front living room with wood-burning stove, a rear larger 23’ by 15’ dining room with garden and deck access, and a kitchen/family dining that’s 19’ wide, and up to 19’ deep, extending into a sun room, overlooking the rear decking and sloping back garden.

Location is on land sold by the Butler family who owned swathes of this hillside, just up from the main Rochestown Road, beyond the Inn and Cinnamon Cottage.

VERDICT: Good overall condition in a niche, mellow bricked development, with wooded aspect