What's up, Doc? Medic gone Down Under from €495k 1 Laurelwood on Cork's Douglas Road

Sete by St Finbarr's Hospital No 1 was bought by a medic at peak boom for over €600k: what will emigrated family's upgraded home make now?

Sun, 19 May, 2024 - 12:00

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports

Douglas Road, Cork City
€495,000
Size	135 sq m (1,450 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2
BER	D1

SUPER-strong prices appear to be being paid this first half of 2024 for specific, well-located Cork suburban homes in walk-in condition, up to €100k or over above asking prices in competitive bidding in many instances.

While it’s not happening in every case, the outliers are being driven by an absolute shortage of second-hand stock, and bidders in key, well-paid jobs, largely in the tech and professional sectors, typically impatient buyers sitting on savings, and fed up with being outbid, ex-pats, and ‘new’ Irish, fed up of renting.

In some cases almost, there’s a sense of deja vu, back to the heady ‘boom’ years of the mid-2000s, and here, in the case of 1 Laurelville, on the city end of the Douglas Road, there’s a bit of a reminder of how things panned out since.

Does my rear look big in this? Back garden is about 200' long

Listed this week with a €495,000 AMV with agent Lawrence Sweeney of Savills, No 1’s a mid-terrace Edwardian style home, with four bedrooms and three floors of accommodation, with a 200’ long narrow back garden and private rear access.

No 1, within 100 metres of St Finbarr’s Hospital campus, a Tesco express and a 10-15 minute walk to the city centre, last sold back in 2006 when it had a boom time price tag of €630,000 being sold for a couple relocating to Kerry after doing considerable work here, and with backgrounds in the arts and yoga.

It sold well (pre-Price Register transparency days) and the buyers in ’06 were a young family, one a medic, and they are now living and working in Australia.

They’ve been in Oz for a good number of years since, possibly ahead of the current brain drain and skills hemorrhage of Irish medics to the southern hemisphere.

The family has grown since in the sun and they’ve no plans to come back to Ireland, hence the sale of their former Douglas Road home, which has been rented out in the interim.

“We had three young children at the time. I was working as a doctor in the local hospital. The house was very conveniently located near to my work and within easy walking distance of town and all its amenities,” notes one of the vendors from Down Under, “we loved living there. It was our children’s first home and we have many fond memories of the house.”

“There was lots of space for everyone. We fitted double glazed windows at the front of the house which kept the house warm and quiet. One of its hidden secrets is the very long and spacious south facing garden. The children could play freely (and within sight of the kitchen). We also enjoyed the decking at the back which we used for social functions and barbeques during the summer, and there was also space at the rear of the garden to park away from the road.”

Controlled access to the rear is via a shared lane (keypad control) down the side of the high stone wall boundary with St Finbarr’s Hospital, shared with other Laurelwood neighbours.

No 3 came for sale in 2012 and sold for its market-nadir €200,000 price tag, and has been hugely invested in since to the back, while No 2 in between is a project in waiting.

Along the same stretch of the main Douglas Road facing the Bellair Estate are similar era runs of terraced homes called Beechwood and Fernwood with any that come for sale getting style makeovers post-purchase to a very high standard.

No 1 Laurelwood got a good deal of work done through the 2000s, including the double glazing and extension: a sign of the passage of since time is the maturity since of the enclosed front garden’s cordyline from a young ‘un in ‘06.

Auctioneer Lawrence Sweeney says No 1 has been well-maintained while let out, but needs at least an injection of TLC and freshening again.

It has c 1,450 sq ft, with top floor bedroom plus study/store, three-mid level bedrooms plus bathroom, and ground with hall with original tiled floor. It has fibre broadband, gas heating, a D1 BER as well as south-facing deck, patio and hugely long back garden.

VERDICT: Little needed to do once in new hands. Just how much the price gap closes between today’s 2024 asking price of €495,000 and the likely mid 2000s sum paid by the vendors – likely to have been in the mid €600,000s – remains to be seen.