This cottage conversion has a characterful exterior that belies a modern B1 Ber-rated home. All the hard work has been done. All you have to do is furnish it.
Address: 2 Keegan's Cottages, Merrion Road, Dublin 4, D04 T8W3
Agent: Hooke & MacDonald
Asking price: €685,000
Anecdotally, agents say that there is less appetite amongst busy professionals to take on a full renovation in the current climate.
Blame it on cost-of-living increases and construction costs that continue to outpace inflation.
The average cost of rebuilding a home has risen by 7 per cent nationally in the past year, according to the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.
This is a figure used by insurers to determine whether your home is underinsured or not, but it can be applied to those having to undertake deep renovations.
Trying to find a builder to take on such a project is challenging, especially when it comes to smaller homes.
All of this explains the continuing demand for properties with A or B Ber ratings in walk-in condition.
Number 2 Keegan’s Cottage is such a property.
It is one of a pair of semi-detached workers' cottages that are secreted down a side lane off the Merrion Road, between the Our Lady Queen of Peace church and the Merrion Gates.
The Dart line runs to its rear.
When it was brought to market last January, it had a G Ber rating and was seeking €395,000.
The two-bedroom, one-bathroom property measured 62 square metres and sold for €375,000 last June, according to the property price register.
It was purchased by Robur Developments, who have demonstrated form in maximising the potential of such style workers' cottages.
Headed up by three friends who met at Blackrock College, this is not their first foray into development.
Previously, they purchased number 2 Railway Cottages, a two-bedroom house for €400,000 in June 2024.
The property was taken back to its bare bones, new services installed, upgraded, insulated and extended.
The firm sold the enlarged, A-rated, 85 square metre property last June for €855,000, according to the property price register, having brought it to market seeking €825,000.
They’ve taken the same deep renovation and retrofit approach to the Merrion Road property, stripping out the extensions to the rear and the original stone cottage back to its bare walls.
While it now measures 69 square metres, only seven square metres bigger than the original property, it is utterly modernised.
The results have been transformative.
It has been rewired and replumbed, with smart new windows and doors.
A light well was inserted into the centre of the property to illuminate the second double bedroom.
This also turned the open-plan kitchen, living, and dining room into a dual aspect space. Solar panels have been installed on the roof to produce hot water.
It also boasts a new B1 Ber-rating, although the listing still shows its original G Ber-rating.
Buyers having to pay retail prices for these same building services would find it difficult to deliver the project as cost-effectively.
Such calculations don’t factor in the stress of managing the job and the additional outlay you may have if you have to run mortgage repayments and rent outlays simultaneously.
The property has been virtually staged for sale.
It is empty, save for its shaker-style kitchen, painted a warm neutral fudge colour and its bathroom, awaiting the next owner’s furniture and furnishings to make it their own.
St Vincent’s Hospital, the Merrion Centre and Sandymount Strand are all within a short walk of the property.
Agents Hooke & MacDonald are seeking €685,000 for the turn-key condition property.
