Trading up and down in the city and county across Cork

We take a look at homes for people to consider from Bantry Bay to Boreenmanna Road

Upper Kensington

Rochestown, Cork
€495,000
Size	217 sq m (2,320 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	C3

Upper Kensington

Natural planted boundaries, matured over decades, grant considerable privacy to the gardens of No 20, Upper Kensington, coming up on its 50th birthday, and which has been a family home for decades. Selling agent Jeremey Murphy guides at €495,000, for a 2,300 sq ft+ detached home, with bright living areas, and all four of its bedrooms are real, good-sized doubles, he adds.

It’s a perfect trade-up family home, Mr Murphy reckons, has been very well kept, but he accepts its next owners will want to make their own mark “but, anyone could move into it straight away too, if they wanted and work on it later.” He’s had his first two days of viewings this past week, in glorious weather, with seven parties the first day and nine more the next. All are traders-up, or relocators, he adds. 

It’s set at the very upper end of Upper Kensington, by the local access road at Belmont linking Garryduff to Coach Hill, with a 216 bus route within a few minutes’, with a national school nearby at Foxwood, and services also at Mount Oval Village. 

The south-aspected and wide home has decking in the rear landscaped and privately screened garden, and rooms include a big, open plan living and formal dining area to the front, an office/play room off, rear lounge, and kitchen/dining room, plus guest WC. Above the main bedroom is en suite and two other share a ‘Jack and Jill’ ensuite.

VERDICT: attractive mature setting.

Boreenmanna Road, Cork City
€420,000
Size	170sq m (1,820sq ft)
Bedrooms	3/4
Bathrooms	2
BER	Pending

10 Glencoo Lawn

It sounds a bit like an instruction to a barber – check the top, side and back, please.

But, in the case of No 10 Glencoo Lawn, it’s more auctioneer Tom Woodward’s advice to home hunters when they visit this three-bed semi-d, as it’s got a bit of extra space up at attic level, to the side, and also to the rear for a larger kitchen than before.

The mid-1900s-built semi-d in an enclave between the Ballinlough and Boreenmanna roads near Páirc Ui Rinn is just on the market, with a quoted €420,000 AMV, and even though the Price Register doesn’t show any resales here over €400kin this settled setting (the closest is €395k, for No 26 in 2020) the Woodward agent feels from early reaction “it could easily go higher.”

Originally a three-bed, it has an attic room with Velux suitable as a study, and a side extension (garage conversion?) has a living room/bedroom with pull-down bed, and shower room.

The kitchen, which is next to a family room, has also been pushed out with overhead roof lights for additional brightness.

It’s got an easy-to-keep back garden, mostly paved, and off-street parking, and is near bus routes, shops, schools, sports facilities and services.

VERDICT: could as easily suit someone trading down as it could those looking for a starter home.

Ballincollig, Cork
€279,000
Size	82 sq m (877 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	2
BER	C1

28 The Square Highfield Ballincollig

No 28 The Square is an apartment — but not as we usually know them, as it’s ground floor, and has a very domestic scale, well-tended private garden, with side access, an attribute more usually associated with houses rather than multi-unit living.

Set in the Highfield Park development off the N22/link road in Cork’s Ballincollig, No 28’s a well-kept two-bed, two-bath family home, with about 875 sq ft, all on the one, accessible level.

It’s priced at €275,000 by selling agent Barry Nagle of Global Properties, who says it’s turnkey, with open plan kitchen/dining and has the best garden of any apartment he’s ever sold: it must have been quite a boon and outdoor sanctuary in the past two years of Cove-19 lockdowns, and summer heatwaves compared to most apartment options.

Given this distinction, it may have an appeal to a trader down from a larger, traditional house, someone who wants easy living, no stairs, a spare bedroom, security and parking, and who also likes the use of a garden. This one is fenced in, with storage shed, colourful flower beds, small lawn and paved patio and path, and the side access is a bonus.

VERDICT: a great compromise between bungalow and apartment living in a quiet, convenient location.

Bantry, West Cork
€390,000
Size	233 sq m (2,500 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	4
BER	C1

Corycommane Coomhola Bantry 

There's a lovely view to brooding, rocky hillside off to the south of this Coorycommane dormer bungalow: it’s a thing of raw beauty in its own right… but, it does mean the views of Bantry Bay on the other side will always be out of sight.

Set just a few miles inland and west of Bantry town, near Coomhola Bridge and its cascading river, this modern dormer home is on an acre with “astounding mountainous views,” according to selling agent John Hodnett of Hodnett Forde, who lists the 2,500 sq ft four-bed home at €390,000.

Stick it on the other side of the Coorycommane ridge and you could probably add €100k to the asking price.

The glen-set home, near forestry but cleared to the immediate setting, is in excellent order, has three first floor bedrooms of which two are en suite and two are double aspect, and there’s a further en suite fourth bedroom at ground level.

Also at ground are two reception rooms, a country style kitchen with ash units, double ceramic sink with tiled worktops, plus double, green range cooker, as well as utility, guest WC off it and there’s a triple aspect sun room on one gable.

The BER’s a solid C1, the setting is tranquil but there’s a school, church and other community supports nearby, as well as a scenic road over the hill to the sea by the N71, near Glengarriff.

VERDICT: in an area of natural beauty.