Three Reasons to Be Happy and One to Make You Think

Two residential sales in the greater Naas area make for a bullish start to 2014

What did I tell you about this being a good year for Irish property? Since I last wrote, O’Neill & Co has agreed the sale of a site with full planning permission in Two Mile House, one of Leinster’s most desirable village addresses. The just-under-one-acre site, which has been on the market since November, received somewhere in the region of 60 (yes, you read that right: sixty) enquiries and ended up selling at above the asking price.

The second sale was a landmark building in another desirable County Kildare Village; some of you might know Marsville House as the former health centre in Kill. http://oneillandco.ie/property/substantial-detached-period-house/ The beautiful period building dating from the 1800s, was originally a family home and the buyers of the property intend to restore it so that it will once more be used for that purpose.

What that tells me is that the normal rules of the property market are back in operation again; namely, that a desirable location sells. There was a time there when even the sure-fire adage of ‘location, location, location’ did not seem to hold.

Recovery in commercial property rents

Commercial property is seeing recovery also. Yields are strengthening, albeit from a low base, bolstered by foreign investors who see the value in this recovering market. While one industry body predicts that rental rates won’t hit boom-time levels until 2020, given how far they have fallen, that, to me, is a good report card. 2020 is a mere six years away. Already, office rents in Dublin reached €377 per metre squared last year and are expected to go higher by the end of 2014.

Fuel for thought

I’ve just agreed terms on a commercial unit in the M7 Business Park to a company who convert petrol engines to run on gas. Gas sells at 0.89c per litre v €1.53 per litre for petrol or €1.48 for diesel, so the savings on filling up the tank are plain to see. The company feel there’ll be a strong market for their services with motorists keen to save money wherever they can. It just goes to show that, while on the one hand there is cash available for a desirable site or property, on the other hand, people are looking for ways to save.

Whichever camp you belong to (and you can by all means have a foot in both), have a look at the properties I have to sell and let at the moment http://oneillandco.ie