They built 'em big in Cork's Bishopstown back in the day

Steady upward price steps at Bishopscourt Hill where No 3 arrives for sale guiding €775,000

Generous detacheds at Bishopscourt Hill. Karl O'Reilly of Savills guides No 3 at €775,000

Bishopstown, Cork City
€775,000
Size	190 sq m (2,050 sq ft)
Bedrooms	6
Bathrooms	3
BER	D2

IN LINE with the rising market’s march of the past decade, there’s been ‘steps of the stairs’ price jumps in Cork’s Bishopscourt Hill: the past four sales have seen prices go from €435,000 in 2015 to €530k and then €640k in 2019, and the latest on the Price Register has No 1, at €708,000 in late 2023.

3 Bishopscourt Hill

That €708k sale was a big step up on its initial €575,000 asking price in June ’23 when it had presented in a tired state, and had a C3: it’s likely to have jumped up markedly since, as work on energy upgrades has taken place since, with new windows and doors visible as well as PV solar panels, and it also got a compact rear extension.

That’s all appreciated now that the house next door, No 3 comes to market, looking to be in fresher internal order than five-bed No 1 did when it found its new owners and who invested further in it, likely to be a solid six-figure sum.

Large reception rooms

Selling No 3 is Karl O’Reilly of Savills who puts a €775,000 AMV on this broadly similar sized but currently six bedroomed 1970s era home, in the same family’s hands for decades and likely to have been built day one by Denis J McCarthy. He was very active across Douglas and Bishopstown in the 1960s and ‘70s, doing good quality homes, with mixes of semis and detacheds at Bishopscourt Hill, Bishopscourt Road and Bishopscourt Lawn by Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh, founded in the 1960s and with its main school build done in 1971.

No 3 just tips over 2,000 sq ft/190 sq m, and layout sees two main substantial ground floor rooms: one is double aspect, the other has two large picture widows to the front with parquet wood floor. There’s also a rear kitchen with modern units, as well as a utility/laundry room plus guest WC.

Kitchen

That’s in contrast to the rooms’ tally on the first floor, currently six of them; four have built ins and all have wash hand basins, a feature in other Bishopscourt homes and, unusually, there are two bathrooms upstairs too. Next owners who may not need all six can add or adapt for en suites, or dressing rooms.

Mr O’Reilly says the detached No 3 is “in immaculate decorative order, perfectly combining elegance, space, and functionality,” you can just drop your bags and live here as it is, or make other changes.”

With a D2 BER, No 3’s on a south-facing site of 0.15 of an acre, with a gentle slope and space to park a car or two, and has a very good walled back garden with large lawn, all with a walk of the CUH campus and major employer, close to schools, Bishopstown GAA, Wilton Shopping Centre and other shops: effectively it’s half way between UCC and MTU for older families awiht college going offspring.

VERDICT: Only due its first viewings at the end of this week, No 3 is expected to get interest from home hunters, who’ll simply make it their own, as well as those who’ll follow in the more substantial energy upgrades as seen at next door’s No 1. Given the price progression noted above over the past decade, will it raise the bar up to and even over the €800k benchmark for Bishopscourt?