ANOTHER February. Another year. Another classic four-bed. How will it do price-wise?
It’s very different economic circumstances today than in February ’22, when a 1963-built Limetrees semi-d called Glenawilling, built in the grounds of the 18th century original Maryborough House on the edge of Douglas, Cork City, came for sale with a €460,000 AMV. It sold for a strong €570,000.
Now, a few doors away comes Kilcoran, or No 29 Limetrees Road, and it’s priced at €490,000 on launch: it’s a fine buy, a four-bed semi-d in excellent shape, especially for a 50 year old home and it’s being sold by long-time residents who extended it mildly in 1980, and who are now scaling back.
But No 29 comes to market when there’s a continuing war to the east, increases in interest rates, stubbornly high renovation costs, and somewhat deflated confidence, with mild economic and employment sector jitters.
Given the evergreen interest in this location at the foot of Maryborough Hill, where Douglas meets Rochestown, there’ll be wide Cork market ‘barometer’ interest as to how it will go in bids, including locals.
First and foremost may well be the €570k buyers of Glenawilling, who now appear to have the builders in and who were determinedly bidding and buying during the period of change that swept in from Russia.
And, up and down this leafy, well-routed residential location which includes both detacheds and semis at Limetrees Road, Limetrees Road East, Lislee and Maryborough Avenue, the pace of upgrades continues as a new generation of owners buy in, and extensions crop up, added to at sides, back, up into attics and as energy retrofits take place and as replacement windows turn to shades of greys (facing this stretch is a row of about a dozen detached Limetree homes showing signs of ‘architect input’, rolling out in grey.) Auctioneers Brian Olden and Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing are selling No 29 and vouch for just how well houses like these in Maryborough, built by Coveneys with attractive extras for the day such as oak floors, coving, porthole windows in enclosed porches etc, can be brought bang up to date with architect/engineer inputs, capable of hitting B1 BERs with deep retrofits and wily use of grants.
Right now, No 29 aka Kilcoran has a D1 BER and is just shy of 1,600 sq ft after its c 1980s add-on to the back, giving about an extra 8’ of depth to the rear living room and to a larger than-standard kitchen.
It’s only a single story addition, but has the effect of making this house seem larger than the standard, the narrow oak strip floored hall is nice and wide and the owners managed to fit a guest WC in too by the side- entered enclosed porch. It has been spotlessly kept, and presents with neutral wall colors and flooring, so new owners can do little, or lots, in increments, in a whirlwind or not at all, as their time, budget, ambitions and energies permit post-purchase.
Houses this side have a good aspect, south-west to the back with a good distance between them and neighbours on Maryborough Avenue, over the mature and screening hedging, and there’s off-street parking, and a garage touching No 29’s back corner and capable of being extended into.
The Price Register shows 78 sales over €500k with a Maryborough address, among them a large, luxe rebuild called Clonard on Maryborough Hill, entered from Maryborough Avenue, featured here in Property in April 2022 and sold the same year by Cohalan Downing for €1.5m on Maryborough Hill.
The Register shows just two Limetrees (or, also spelled Lime Trees) resales
