My house purchase experience in 2023 with data on prices (asking vs sold) in South Dublin

[sbrodhagen]

Commented on a few posts over the year about my experience and people found it useful so here is the final updated version and what we can learn from it. By the end of the year I could estimate the value of a house and even advised some friends that were selling and guessed the correct price within 2k. If people have any questions, I will try reply when available. Probably won't have much free time when back to work but will try my best.

I will start off with the pricing data. After the table will be our experiences/tips with viewings, estate agents, bidding, what to check when you are serious about a house and interesting things we noticed.

Target areas:

Everything between Carrickmines, Milltown, Booterstown, Dalkey.

Houses:

This list is all the houses that we considered. We went to see some of them but overall this list was to track price patterns for areas and over time.

What the data for 66 houses tells us:

• 7.5% - 5 houses sold for their asking price
• 25.3% - 17 houses sold for under the asking price
• 67.1% - 45 houses went for over the asking price
• The greatest drop in price was €50,000
• The average price drop was €21,823
• The greatest increase in price was €152,000
• The average price increase was €52,420.24
• Taking all the houses into account, the average was an increase in price of €29,670
• Taking all the houses into account, the average was an increase of 4.2% in price.
• In the 1st half of the year, 21 houses went for over asking and 12 went below.
• In the 2nd half of the year, there was an increase in the number of houses that went for over asking price (24) compared to below the asking price (6). I would need more data to see if this is a regular occurrence across a calendar year. Based on a single year of data this would point to the market in these areas increasing in demand. Considering the type of houses we were mainly looking at (3 bed, off street parking, decent garden) this would make sense as supply isn't increasing for these.
• Edit: Average asking price was €698,372.

Data:

Asking Price
Sold for
Sold date
Difference

31 Beech Park Drive, Foxrock, Dublin 18
€799,000.00
€799,000.00
2023-01-27
€0.00

24 Seafield Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€575,000.00
€680,000.00
2023-02
€105,000.00

5 Ardagh Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€730,000.00
€705,000.00
2023-02-10
-€25,000.00

98 Foxrock Park, Foxrock, Dublin 18
€745,000.00
€735,000.00
2023-02-14
-€10,000.00

142 Foxrock Park, Foxrock, Dublin 184 Bed1 BathSemi-D
€775,000.00
€770,000.00
2023-02-23
-€5,000.00

27 Springhill Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€600,000.00
€550,000.00
2023-03-15
-€50,000.00

21 Woodlawn Park, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
€695,000.00
€710,000.00
2023-03-22
€15,000.00

113 Fosterbrook, Booterstown, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€750,000.00
€767,000.00
2023-03-22
€17,000.00

53 Cedarmount Road, Mount Merrion, Co. Dublin
€695,000.00
€750,000.00
2023-03-27
€55,000.00

2 Kill Lane, Foxrock, Foxrock, Dublin 18
€675,000.00
€724,000.00
2023-04-17
€49,000.00

44 South Park, Foxrock, Dublin 18
€735,000.00
€725,000.00
2023-04-20
-€10,000.00

29 Dargle Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€825,000.00
€777,000.00
2023-04-21
-€48,000.00

46 Abbey Road, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
€645,000.00
€660,000.00
2023-04-25
€15,000.00

117 Stillorgan Wood, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
€749,000.00
€735,000.00
2023-04-28
-€14,000.00

15 Trimleston Drive, Booterstown, Co. Dublin
€650,000
€630,000
2023-04-28
-€20,000

25 Stradbrook Hall, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€635,000.00
€660,000.00
2023-05-03
€25,000.00

54 Clonkeen Drive Foxrock Dublin 18, Foxrock, Dublin 18
€745,000.00
€755,000.00
2023-05-04
€10,000.00

94 Stillorgan Wood, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
€745,000.00
€780,000.00
2023-05-15
€35,000.00

27 Drummartin Road Goatstown Dublin 14, Goatstown, Dublin 14
€725,000.00
€705,000.00
2023-05-16
-€20,000.00

27 Drummartin Road Goatstown Dublin 14, Goatstown, Dublin 14
€699,000.00
€705,000.00
2023-05-16
€6,000.00

10 Obelisk Grove, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€670,000.00
€750,000.00
2023-05-18
€80,000.00

28 Church Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
€699,000.00
€725,000.00
2023-05-18
€26,000.00

42 Rockford Park, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€545,000.00
€582,500.00
2023-05-22
€37,500.00

10 Hollywood Drive, Goatstown, Goatstown, Dublin 14
€750,000
€855,000
2023-05-25
€105,000

2 Park View, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€875,000.00
€885,000.00
2023-05-30
€10,000.00

67 Rockville Drive, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€615,000.00
€632,000.00
2023-05-31
€17,000.00

13 Castlebyrne Park, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€645,000.00
€690,000.00
2023-05-31
€45,000.00

78 Granville Road, Cabinteely, Dublin 18
€585,000.00
€570,000.00
2023-06-01
-€15,000.00

45 Stillorgan Wood, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
€725,000.00
€725,000.00
2023-06-07
€0.00

12 Hawthorn Manor, Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€660,000.00
€685,000.00
2023-06-14
€25,000.00

2 Ardagh Crescent, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€650,000.00
€620,000.00
2023-06-15
-€30,000.00

5 Balally Avenue, Balally, Dundrum, Dublin 16
€675,000.00
€675,000.00
2023-06-21
€0.00

51 Dargle Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€795,000.00
€860,000.00
2023-06-23
€65,000.00

80 Dale Road, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
€660,000
€660,000
2023-06-23
€0

2A Taney Park, Dundrum, Dundrum, Dublin 14
€775,000
€826,000
2023-06-23
€51,000

54 Balally Hill, Dundrum, Dublin 16
€625,000.00
€663,000.00
2023-06-29
€38,000.00

60 Lower Kilmacud Road, Kilmacud, Co. Dublin
€645,000.00
€735,000.00
2023-07-04
€90,000.00

12 Glandore Park, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
€775,000
€770,000
2023-07-04
-€5,000

61 Hampton Park, Saint Helen's Wood, Booterstown, Co. Dublin
€790,000.00
€850,000.00
2023-07-05
€60,000.00

70 Trimleston Park, Booterstown, Co. Dublin
€735,000
€762,251
2023-07-06
€27,251

9 Allen Park Road, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
€750,000.00
€870,000.00
2023-07-11
€120,000.00

41 Richmond Avenue, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
€695,000.00
€750,000.00
2023-07-12
€55,000.00

45 Churchview Park, Killiney, Co. Dublin
€675,000.00
€655,000.00
2023-07-12
-€20,000.00

41 Richmond Avenue, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
€695,000
€750,000
2023-07-12
€55,000

181 Balally Drive, Dundrum, Dublin 16
€625,000
€620,000
2023-07-13
-€5,000

10 Richmond Grove Monkstown, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
€725,000.00
€750,000.00
2023-07-14
€25,000.00

113 Lakelands Close, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
€675,000
€725,000
2023-07-14
€50,000

25 Foxrock Court, Foxrock, Dublin 18
€775,000.00
€840,000.00
2023-07-17
€65,000.00

6 Meadow Vale, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€710,000.00
€691,000.00
2023-07-20
-€19,000.00

3 Ramleh Park, Milltown, Dublin 6
€795,000
€810,000
2023-07-20
€15,000

39 Rockford Manor, Stradbrook Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€775,000.00
€865,000.00
2023-07-26
€90,000.00

56 Taney Road, Dundrum, Dundrum, Dublin 14
€645,000
€797,000
2023-07-26
€152,000

8 Woodley Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
€650,000.00
€675,000.00
2023-07-28
€25,000.00

39 Trimleston Gardens, Booterstown, Co. Dublin
€749,950
€890,000
2023-07-28
€140,050

1 Beaumont Drive, Churchtown, Churchtown, Dublin 14
€695,000.00
€750,000.00
2023-08-10
€55,000.00

3 Patrician Park, Kill Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
€530,000
€490,000
2023-08-16
-€40,000

1 Trimleston Drive, Booterstown, Co. Dublin
€760,000.00
€780,000.00
2023-08-18
€20,000.00

20 The Grange, Kill Lane, Deans Grange, Co. Dublin
€650,000
€615,000
2023-08-18
-€35,000

2 Clonard Park Dundrum Dublin 16, Dundrum, Dublin 16
€795,000
€903,110
2023-08-18
€108,110

34 Seafield Road, Booterstown, Co. Dublin
€745,000
€765,000
2023-08-21
€20,000

3 Abbey Park, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
€650,000
€710,000
2023-08-25
€60,000

17 Churchview Park, Killiney, Co. Dublin
€695,000.00
€770,000.00
2023-08-30
€75,000.00

47 Ashton Park Monkstown, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
€745,000.00
€825,000.00
2023-09-15
€80,000.00

24 Grange Terrace, Deansgrange Road, Deans Grange, Co. Dublin
€560,000
€605,000
2023-10-19
€45,000

Aisling, Aisling, 206 Clonkeen Road, Deansgrange, Blackrock, Co. Dublin
€695,000
€725,000
2023-11-13
€30,000

42 Watson Avenue, Killiney, Co. Dublin
€595,000
€595,000
2023-12-08
€0

20 Woodley Park, Kilmacud, Co. Dublin
€650,000
€715,000
2023-12-22
€65,000

Our house hunting experience:

Viewings:

• We went to view around 10 houses, which is above average apparently, but we were not in a rush to move out of our apartment and could take our time a bit more than others. I would recommend giving yourself as much time as possible so that you don't feel rushed.
• On the day of the viewing, ring the estate agent and ask what the current offer is. Some estate agents will ring you to confirm on the day anyway and will update you but others don't bother and there is nothing worse than using a lunch break to view a house only to find it is 50 over asking when you arrive.
• If you are serious about a place, bring some family or friends along to the 2nd viewing to get another point of view. You will miss things yourself.
• If you like the house, go for a walk around the area after and get chatting to some of the locals. Gives you a good idea of the place.
• Don't feel worried if there are a lot of people at a viewing at a weekend. There seem to be some people who just go and view houses to get ideas for their own place or to be nosey. Some busy viewings I was at still had no bids a few weeks later. That said, busy viewings can be very annoying and make it hard to get a feel for a house.
• Have a list of questions ready. These were ours:
  • Type of sale. E.G. is it probate, people downsizing/upsizing etc
  • If it is probate, how far along is it. If they are vague about this, be wary.
  • If there are other bidders already, ask what type they are. Cash, mortgage, in a chain. If you are a cash or mortgage buyer and the only other bidder is in a chain, you would be preferred.
  • What work has the house had done? The main thing to look for is the electrics. Is the fuse board an ancient one with screw in fuses? Are the power sockets in the skirting boards? If so it will probably need to be upgraded.

BER Ratings

This relates a bit to viewings a bit as you got very different types of people at viewings based on the ratings. From what we found, aiming for a C rated house is the sweet spot.

• B3 or higher houses will have a much higher demand than I expected. This is down to a few things:
  • Green mortgages
  • These are houses that don't need anything done to move in. Families with a few kids seemed to be a big target market.
  • Non-Irish families moving here. If you are moving your family to Ireland and you don't know what to look for, the advice they are given seems to be to aim for B3 or better.
  • Tend to have multiple bidders.
• Low rated houses:
  • Not as much demand.
  • Mostly saw young couples at viewings. Rarely with kids.
  • Suits people starting out as they can improve over time.
  • A good way to get something with a good garden, garage etc for a good price.
• C rated
  • Seems to be the sweet spot of being in good condition and not having huge demand.
  • Might need a bit of work in the near future.
  • Not as many on the market although that could just have been our experience.

Estate Agents:

This was a mixed bag, as expected. Some were fantastic (shoutout to DNG Stillorgan who were always great) and others were such obvious chancers it was embarrassing. My final conclusion was that if you are selling houses in areas that are in high demand, you really don't have to put much effort in. Many of the houses sell themselves. So the estate agents that were clearly putting the effort in stuck out.

• If a house has a low BER rating, you will want an estate agent that is honest. Some were happy to list off everything wrong with a house in detail along with potential repair/replacement costs. Others would talk as if they were trying to sell you used car.
• If you hear buzz words like "vendor needs a quick sale", take it with a pinch of salt. The house I was told this in is still up for sale at a crazy price 6 months later.
• If a viewing is quiet and you like the estate agent, get chatting them. If you aren't interested in that house they might advise you on what you should be looking for and they will keep you in mind if something comes up that could suit you.

Bidding:

We bid on 1 house and made offers on 2 others so this should give a good overview of the different approaches:

1. Regular bidding
   1. Bidding through a website. Very easy to use and got email updates whenever a bid went in.
   2. Didn't require checks to see if you had approval in principal which was a bit strange.
   3. Only us and one other bidder.
   4. We bid in small amounts and stretched it out as we weren't in a rush.
   5. Kept viewing other houses while this was going on.
   6. We hit our set limit for that house and pulled out.
   7. Interestingly, the estate agent contacted us 2 weeks later to see if we were still interested as the bidders who beat us hadn't actually got their AIP sorted yet. It was too late by then and we had found something better.

1. Off market viewing and email offer (also known as the dodgy estate agent example)
2. Based on a house that was sale agreed we were interested in with the same estate agent, we were contacted about a house in the same estate that had not gone on daft etc yet and the seller was looking for a quick sale. The house that had sold earlier was an incredible A rated place with all the extensions done and it went for almost 900k.
3. The house for sale ticked our boxes but the asking price was far too high. 825k. A bigger house with a better BER and south garden right beside it had sold for 730 a few months earlier in the year.
4. The estate agent implied that the vendor was asking too much and that we should put in a lower bid. I made an offer of 700 with the idea of trying to talk them close to 750 which is probably still a bit overpriced.
5. I got a snotty email back from the estate agent back for wasting his time and said he expected over 800k. He compared it to the house that they sold for 900k and said it was similar. It wasn't even in the same league. D rating, smaller garden. No extension work done.
6. When I replied pointing out that the houses were not comparable and pointed to the one that sold for 730 that was similar, I never heard from him again.
7. This was in the summer.......that house is still up for sale today and has dropped below 800 now.

1. The 'Buy it now' house (the one we bought)
2. We went to see a house that ticked all the boxes and had just come on the market. It had some interest at this stage but no bids. We decided to do a different approach with bidding.
3. We had dealt with the estate agent before so they knew we were serious and good to move quickly if needed. I asked them if they could ask the vendors what price they would accept to take it off the market now.
4. They came back with an amount that was pretty much our happy price point for the house.
5. I made it clear that we would offer that amount if they took it off the market. This was not an opening bid. If they wanted us to bid normally we would but it would be a much lower first bid.
6. They accepted this and I am now typing this from my new office.

Checks to do on a house when you are serious

There are a number of things to check even before going to view somewhere if you think you might be very interested in it. If a house seems too good to be true, you might find out why.

• Planning permission check - https://dlrcocouncil.maps.arcgis.co...ndex.html?id=af21eeb123224c4c877f410139ed1e69
  • This is the big one. There were some deals that I found but when you look into it, there is a block of apartments going up beside it.
• Property price register - https://propertypriceregisterireland.com/
  • Another big one. Check the road and nearby roads for recent sales to compare prices. You can then possibly find the old adds on myhome (daft tend to remove them) and see what the house was like.
• Flood maps - https://www.floodinfo.ie/map/floodmaps/
• Freehold/Leasehold check - https://www.landregistryireland.com/map-search
• Radon check - https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/Radon?&lid=EPA:RadonRiskMapofIreland
• Check out local community twitters and facebook pages. Should give you an idea of the area.

Interesting things we noticed

• For the most part, being within walking distance of the Luas or Dart massively increases the price and demand of a house.
• If you want a garage (something I wanted), you have to aim for something older that hasn't had it converted into a room. Hard to find in houses that are not poor BER ratings.
• Some areas might not seem that appealing based on logical data but they carry a premium because of the name. Goatstown, Foxrock, Dalkey and Mount Merrion would be some that come to mind.
• For the Luas, being between Sandyford and town is preferable due to higher frequency. Same goes for the Dart and Dun Laoghaire.
• Booterstown has some deals but you better have a poor sense of smell.

There is probably more and I will add to it if I remember. If you got this far, thanks! Wanted to get all of this out of my head so someone else can use it. Best of luck with your house hunts. It's a lot of work but it is worth it.

 

[intofarlands]

@sbrodhagen Great work. That house that went for 150k above asking, I was expecting it to be turnkey but it needs another 100k to modernise it too!

 

[sbrodhagen]

@intofarlands We actually went to see that twice. It has a sort of basement level that got me very excited until my partner pointed out that the roof was about 6ft and would shrink quite a lot when some floors and insulation would go in.

The whole place needed to be gutted. Wonky floors in some parts of the house and the garage area stank of smokes. Its having big work done on it at the moment.

Thats an example of a house being very popular based on the area as opposed to it being a logical choice. It did have an amazing view of the city though.

 

[steveh]

@sbrodhagen Thank you for this! Great data and a nice write-up.

Interestingly, the estate agent contacted us 2 weeks later to see if we were still interested as the bidders who beat us hadn't actually got their AIP sorted yet. It was too late by then and we had found something better.

This is an absolute joke, why are they being permitted to bid with no AIP, and from their own perspective why are they bidding at all?

 

[sbrodhagen]

@steveh I did get the impression that some people just don't know what they are doing. If you aren't Irish and this is your first purchase you might not know how the system works.

I always saw it as a sign of a good estate agent if they ask.

 

[liva8801]

@sbrodhagen In my experience the non Irish ones are either bidding cash or know the system inside and out. I was involved in a few overbids and actually met a couple of them who were clearly Irish.

In cases I was told about they overbid hoping the bank would somehow relax rules for them once they secured the bid. Happened 3 times to me ( I bid and saw many many places) Thought it was ridiculous personally and just wasted everyone's time.

 

[beckybol12]

@steveh People are gobshites. And I agree, someone's dwelling for the next god knows how long is effected by these fools

 

[abgchristian23]

@steveh They are being allowed because it puts the price up, when I was buying nobody was asked for proof until 60k or 70k over asking, and proof is just a blacked out AIP anyway, so it could say anything.

 

[vinyamo]

@sbrodhagen Excellent post, thanks for taking the time to write it all up.

 

[sbrodhagen]

@vinyamo No worries. Happy to get it out of my head and written down somewhere!

 

[jeremymg16]

@sbrodhagen I bought a book about buying a house in Ireland and this post was much better than that whole book!

 

[boystan]

@sbrodhagen Excellent write up. Three things that resonated with me drop your post (speaking as someone that bought in the same quadrant you described 18 months ago, and went for a low BER but with all the fundamentals)
1. People target good BERs as a proxy for “in good shape”
2. DNG Stillorgan were the estate agent we bought through, and because we had our old house to sell, went through too to sell, and we found them excellent (a chap William)
3. The probate topic is key - if you have time to wait, you can snag a deal, but it is time consuming. We sale agreed 11 months I think before we received possession…

 

[sassybee]

@sbrodhagen Great work! I had a similar experience. The house I ended up buying I approached differently. Made my best offer, gave a deadline and required it to be taken off the market.

The biggest price difference I saw was a house that was on for 345 ended up going for 535!

This was the original asking price

https://www.propertypriceregister.i...2B409E0E0217811C8025890A00602E1C?OpenDocument

 

[glenn_w_christian]

@sassybee We took the same approach when we went sale agreed in Oct. At that stage we had honestly lost count of how many houses we had viewed. We had been in numerous bidding wars and had either been outbid or cash buyers came in last minute and sellers went with them instead. When we viewed our new house we loved it, and it ticked all the boxes. We asked estate agent what would it take to take it off market. We put time limit on the offer and made it clear that we would pay this only if it came off market and they went sale agreed with us. We were not doing another bidding war. The next day we got a call from estate agent and went sale agreed.

 

[rickylee]

@sbrodhagen Very interesting, thank you. I did something similar back when I was looking in 2018. You really build up a view of what a house is actually "worth" (i.e. what it will ultimately go for) vs what it's advertised at. And you start to see which estate agents price fairly and which price to start bidding wars. And if a house goes way over what it's worth, chances are it will fall over and come back on the market.

 

[mamat3]

@sbrodhagen That’s a really helpful post, thank you very much.

 

[ecsid]

@sbrodhagen For those looking for a garage, just be aware that BER inspections do not seem to take into account insulation beneath floors above the garage. It isn't logged a floor insulation. So almost inevitably in an older house with such an arrangement, you will be looking at insulating inside the ceiling of the garage at some stage. Price it in unless you know for sure it is already done.

 

[davidpl]

@sbrodhagen Market definitely picked up in 2nd half.
House index started ticking up from september too (this is when jun/jul sale agreeds hitted the land registry).

 

[hollycavanaugh]

@sbrodhagen A great post, thanks for your efforts. I've lost count on how many houses we viewed and bid for (more than 10 for sure). The ones we were serious about always went over asking by a lot.

 

[swettbaby6]

@sbrodhagen This is amazing work and very beneficial to all buyers