Buyers take week off to queue for home

House hunters stand in cold and rain outside office of development in capital

DESPERATE house hunters have taken a week off work to queue in the cold and rain outside the sales office of a Dublin housing development for new homes.

The queue started at 6.30am on Monday for the 24 houses at Beechwood Heath in Hansfield, Dublin 15, which are due to go on sale on Friday.

Buyers told how they had taken time off work and organised childminders so they could stay in the queue in the hope of finally getting a home.

“This is the situation now. This is how bad it’s got,” said one man.

Sitting on deck chairs, wrapped in blankets and winter clothing, the buyers were hoping the sales agents would issue them with numbered tickets so they could get on with their lives and come back on Friday when the sales office opens.

Martin Mooney was one of the top five in the queue. “We got married in February and my wife Jenny started queueing here on Monday at around 7.30am,” he said.

“We have two children and we are organising things with our mothers to mind them while we queue. We have mortgage approval in principle and we are hopeful.

“My sister bought a house in the first phase, and when my friend bought one in the second phase it had gone up €5,000. There were tickets handed out the last time so we hope they do the same again now.”

One young mother said that their lives were “on hold”.

“We have an orderly agreed queue here, and we all know where each other is in it,” said one young mother. “There are people coming to us with food, and we are availing of local toilets and the kindness of others.”

The homes carry guide prices of between €300,000 and €500,000 at the moment. One man joined the queue early on Monday morning.

“They are three and four-bed units, but we won’t know an exact price until Friday morning,” he said.

A woman who was near the top of the queue said the housing supply was so low that there was high demand and a climate of rising prices.

“We hear another 11 units will go on sale in June, but what price will they be?

“It’s a catch-22 situation. You can look for second-hand houses and be out-bid, or go for a new build and have to queue like this for a fixed price,” she told the Irish Independent.

There was an open day for the new development last Friday, and one person in the queue said that potential buyers were told that “people queued for the last phase”.

Miguel Paz stood patiently in the queue getting to know his potential neighbours.

“I am from Spain and I have never seen this happen over there. Yet people here tell me it is how things are done in Ireland now,” he said.

Buyers will have to put a €2,000 deposit on the houses, and it is refundable if they do not proceed with the sale.

The Irish Independent contacted the selling agents, Kelly Walsh, to enquire if a ticketing system would be rolled out for those in the queue. At first a spokeswoman said they were instructed not to comment, but late yesterday afternoon they handed out numbered tickets which allowed the queue to disperse until Friday at noon.

Meanwhile, chief executive of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers (IPAV), Pat Davitt, said no one should have to queue outside and overnight to buy a house.

The IPAV organisation represents 1,100 auctioneers nationwide. Mr Davitt said the issue “is a symptom of a severe lack of supply of homes”.