Primed for future conversion across the border in Meath
THE WILLOWS Dunshaughlin, Co Meath Asking price: €299,000-€470,000 Agent: Hooke & MacDonald, (01) 631 8402 and Dillon Auctioneers, (01) 8259154
WITH the housing crisis stepping up a notch amid protests in Dublin, demand will likely prove high this weekend for three-bed townhouses priced from €299,000 that are launching over the Meath border at The Willows in Dunshaughlin.
The scheme of 200 three and four-bed semi-detached homes off the village’s Old Dublin Road was first released a year ago. It’s being developed by GEM Group and is funded by Activate Capital, a state-backed lender providing finance to developers for residential sites in greater Dublin area.
To date, The Willows has attracted firsttime buyers who had been working in Dublin and living in Dublin 15, on the Navan Road, or in Co Meath areas further away from Dunshaughlin and were seeking to reduce their monthly expenditure on accommodation by buying rather than renting, according to the selling agent. The scheme is a 15-minute drive from the M50 in light traffic.
Two new showhouses, along with a playground and green space, will open this weekend to market a new phase of
40 homes at The Willows. In addition to the price, first-time buyers of the 1,209sq ft three-bed townhouses will also gain homes with attics that can be converted at a later stage.
The next cheapest price is the threebed semi-detached design, which is a tad larger, at 1,248 sq ft, is priced from €323,000 and also has an attic primed for a future conversion. The four-bed houses each span 1,658 sq ft and are priced mainly from €370,000, while the five-bed detached houses measure 1,818 sq ft and cost from €470,000.
Designed by McCrossan O’Rourke Manning, the properties have traditional brick facades with reconstituted sandstone to the sills and surrounds of the large white-framed UPVC double-glazed windows. Each house comes with a paved driveway with enough parking for two cars.
The fitted kitchen from BeSpace is in a contemporary style, with integrated LED lighting and soft-close drawer units. BeSpace also supplied the fitted wardrobes in the bedrooms and the walk-in wardrobe in the master en suite bedroom.
The A3-rated homes are heated via a gas condensing boiler, while PV panels on the roof generate electricity from solar energy. Both keep utility bills in check.
The opening of the nearby M3 motorway in 2010 has significantly reduced travel times between Dunshaughlin and Dublin city centre.
Would-be residents of The Willows can also commute by rail to Connolly Station in less than half an hour from the M3 Parkway, the largest park-and-ride facility in the country, which is 9km from Dunshaughlin. There are also 40 daily bus services to and from the capital.
For families, Dunshaughlin has two primary schools and a secondary school called Dunshaughlin Community College. The village is close to the Boyne Valley and historical sites such as the Hill of Tara and Newgrange.
Viewings at The Willows will take place tomorrow and Sunday, from 2.30pm to 4pm.