New Development - 51 Houses In Gracedieu

Green Hornet

I see planning permission has gone up for 51 houses opposite Bowefield in Gracedieu. Wonder what the market for a devlopment like that is like? Maybe it's a sign that things are picking up a little bit?

thomasm

From the Munster... Was surprised by it

The last 12 months has been the busiest year in terms of residential house sales in Waterford since 2007 according to city-based estate agent John Rohan.

“Business has been brisk,” said an upbeat Mr Rohan. “We’ve had a busy year of enquiries and viewings and, most beneficially from our perspective, sales greatly increased.”

Interest in Waterford property during 2010 wasn’t exclusively the domain of first time buyers, as John Rohan pointed out.

“The interest has come from right across the board,” he stated. “More than ever, purchasers are looking for good value and the right location.

jo06555

Before anymore houses are built up in carricphierish/gracedieu area someone needs to think about opening up a shop or something , all we have is a chip shop :rolleyes:, can only imagine if i did not have a car the hassle i would have if i needed something , kind of a disgrace the closest shops are super-valu or freshway in cleaboy............

red_diesel

Green Hornet wrote: »

I see planning permission has gone up for 51 houses opposite Bowefield in Gracedieu. Wonder what the market for a devlopment like that is like? Maybe it's a sign that things are picking up a little bit?

Picking up?? I wonder how many unsold houses there are a mile or so away in Ferrybank?? Hardly a great location if its opposite Bowefield. I remember when those first houses in Bowefield went on the market. They were going for well over 300k. They must have lost about a third of their value since.

Green Hornet

I dont understand how there could be a market for them either with Bowefield looking over them. Will be difficult to get planning I'd say!

dayshah

thomasm wrote: »

From the Munster... Was surprised by it

The last 12 months has been the busiest year in terms of residential house sales in Waterford since 2007 according to city-based estate agent John Rohan.

I understand why you'd be surprised, but it sort of makes sense for an individual auctioneer to do well. A lot of his competition probably went bust, so the surviving auctioneers can see a pick up in trade. Also although prices are way down (thankfully for me) volumes sold will increase as they are approaching a more realistic level.

Overall did Waterford have much overbuilding? I don't really think so. I remember that housing estate in Kilmeadan looked like a ghost estate two years ago, but now it looks more or less full.

red_diesel

dayshah wrote: »

Overall did Waterford have much overbuilding? I don't really think so. I remember that housing estate in Kilmeadan looked like a ghost estate two years ago, but now it looks more or less full.

Have you seen the amount of half empty estates in Ferrybank? Oakridge, Aylesbury, Clover meadows etc. The term 'ghost estate' sums then up nicely.

merlante

red_diesel wrote: »

Have you seen the amount of half empty estates in Ferrybank? Oakridge, Aylesbury, Clover meadows etc. The term 'ghost estate' sums then up nicely.

There were only 6 in January last year (http://www.munster-express.ie/local-news/city-has-6-‘ghost-estates’/). The county only had 9. For Kilkenny, the Munster figure gives 21.

More up to date information can be found here: National Survey of Ongoing Housing Developments: October 2010 (http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1021/ghostestate.pdf), if you can get anything out of it.

A lot of the Gracedieu houses are being built to a plan for a green field village, iirc. There is a mix of social and private housing in there, plans for schools, etc. Yes there are now empty houses around -- for the moment -- but I think it might still be a good strategy. Waterford's ghost estates problem is not as bad as elsewhere.

red_diesel

I'm not sure of where the boundaries are, but some of the estates i mentioned could be in Kilkenny.

poppies2

red_diesel wrote: »

I'm not sure of where the boundaries are, but some of the estates i mentioned could be in Kilkenny.

All of them are in Co. Kilkenny

EMSCHAP

Thanks to KK Co Co woefull planning policies! Just look at the ghost shopping centre smack on the Waterford city boundary.

abouttobebanned

As well as the empty houses in oakridge there is also an awful lot of wasteland containing building materials where building was supposed to continue.

fitzeyboy.

Waterford City and County didn't suffer too badly from housing oversupply. The reason housing estates in Ferrybank are empty is no one wants to spend 30 minutes trying to get across the bridge or pay a toll to get across quicker. Houses in areas well serviced by bus services and with all amenities within walking distance are selling well. In fact another 15 houses are going up in the estate in Kilmeaden due to the level of demand for them.

Smiley Burnett

thomasm wrote: »

From the Munster... Was surprised by it

The last 12 months has been the busiest year in terms of residential house sales in Waterford since 2007 according to city-based estate agent John Rohan.

“Business has been brisk,” said an upbeat Mr Rohan. “We’ve had a busy year of enquiries and viewings and, most beneficially from our perspective, sales greatly increased.”

Interest in Waterford property during 2010 wasn’t exclusively the domain of first time buyers, as John Rohan pointed out.

“The interest has come from right across the board,” he stated. “More than ever, purchasers are looking for good value and the right location.

of course this is from an "impartial source"!!! This type of self-promotion from auctioneers, which is dressed up as news, is the type of nonsense that helped fuel the property bubble!!

Smiley Burnett

fitzeyboy. wrote: »

Waterford City and County didn't suffer too badly from housing oversupply. The reason housing estates in Ferrybank are empty is no one wants to spend 30 minutes trying to get across the bridge or pay a toll to get across quicker. Houses in areas well serviced by bus services and with all amenities within walking distance are selling well. In fact another 15 houses are going up in the estate in Kilmeaden due to the level of demand for them.

the county is full of empty houses!!! Nearly every estate has quite a few houses which are empty/struggling to sell

fitzeyboy.

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

the county is full of empty houses!!! Nearly every estate has quite a few houses which are empty/struggling to sell

Maybe in the back arse of nowhere. But houses in well serviced, desirable areas are still selling well.

Funfair

fitzeyboy. wrote: »

Waterford City and County didn't suffer too badly from housing oversupply. The reason housing estates in Ferrybank are empty is no one wants to spend 30 minutes trying to get across the bridge or pay a toll to get across quicker. Houses in areas well serviced by bus services and with all amenities within walking distance are selling well. In fact another 15 houses are going up in the estate in Kilmeaden due to the level of demand for them.

Thats only between 8.30am and 9.00am when schools are open otherwise you'd be over the bridge in 5 mins... Dunmore rd is worse at all hours

Jubo

Mmm, have to agree with Smiley Burnett. Theres a good few houses that have remained unsold for a long period of time and while its great to see development of these sites its pointless if they are just going to sit there unoccuppied. I do think that theres a legitimate view amongst auctioneers to 'put the best foot forward' and say everything is going great but it is one of the reasons we are in this mess.

Green Hornet

Jubo wrote: »

Theres a good few houses that have remained unsold for a long period of time and while its great to see development of these sites its pointless if they are just going to sit there unoccuppied.

Thats why I find it hard to understand why somebody would build 50 high spec houses there. Surely the fact that the Bowefield estate will be looking in on top of them will make them even harder to shift.

Jubo

I wonder what will happen when all the 'Nama' properties come on the market? Anyone know whether there will be a flood of more useless sites and properties or is Nama planning to hang on them. Surely if those type of places are at sale at knock down prices it will affect general property prices.

wmpdd3

The idea of NAMA is to prevent a flood, by locking up the properties until....... someone else is in power.

sparkling sea

Watersgate, Bowefield and Mount Suir still have houses that are unsold, it just doesn't make sense to build a new estate in this area.

sparkling sea

Found the answer - developers are applying for planning permission in the hope of increasing the value of increasing the value of their land banks before they go to NAMA. They don't intend to build and by the by planners are aware that this is happening and are still granting permission.

merlante

Lads, there will always be houses that stay on the market a while. It's great if you're a buyer.

It's only a problem if there are so many of them that developers start going bust on mass and estates start to rot and cause environmental problems -- also not nice if you're the one person living on the estate. Waterford has escaped this really.

Smiley Burnett

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0118/houses.html


read the last sentence!!!!!

dayshah

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0118/houses.html


read the last sentence!!!!!

Yes, but it can still be profitable to build houses. Suppose the land is worth €20,000 and the build cost is €50,000 you can still make a profit even if prices go down as low as €71,000. OK, not the big money that was made by some during the boom, but if someone isn't greedy its alright.

Or think of the old Snowcream place in Maypark. If houses went in their they would surely sell. Its a more convenient location than Ferrybank for most people.

dayshah

EMSCHAP wrote: »

Thanks to KK Co Co woefull planning policies! Just look at the ghost shopping centre smack on the Waterford city boundary.

fitzeyboy. wrote: »

Waterford City and County didn't suffer too badly from housing oversupply.

I thank Brendan McCann for being brave enough to stand up to the developers and auctioneers that have lead a smear campaign against him.

Marchandire

dayshah wrote: »

I thank Brendan McCann for being brave enough to stand up to the developers and auctioneers that have lead a smear campaign against him.

100% agreement there m8. Remember how he was going to ruin Waterford's economic future with his planning objections? Well, we know how that went.

Not to mention that upthedeise website and the endless abuse the man suffered there.

Green Hornet

Marchandire wrote: »

100% agreement there m8. Remember how he was going to ruin Waterford's economic future with his planning objections? Well, we know how that went.

Not to mention that upthedeise website and the endless abuse the man suffered there.

Yeah, I only became aware of his reputation in the last few years and he was vilified. I think Waterford should be happy that he did what he did or we would have much more needless tasteless sprawl all over the town.

merlante

Green Hornet wrote: »

Yeah, I only became aware of his reputation in the last few years and he was vilified. I think Waterford should be happy that he did what he did or we would have much more needless tasteless sprawl all over the town.

McCann objected to everything, big and small, good and bad. He effectively had the KRM shopping development delayed long enough so that the money ran out. (Whereas McDonagh junction in Kilkenny was proposed later, and is now long finished.) Waterford desperately needs a shopping centre of that scale, with large units in the city centre. M&S, Waterstones and a number of major retailers are not in Waterford because of the lack of this space.

If he had his way, Railway square would never have been built, and Waterford may not have had a single cinema in the city now. TK Maxx would have had nowhere to set up. Again, Waterford city is extremely short of large unit retail space.

Of course he objected to some bad developments, but there is no doubt in my mind that he has harmed Waterford city enormously by his actions. Restauranteurs, off licences and pizza joints were delayed to the point where large losses were incurred by the owners and some business never opened at all. Usually it's the market that decides the viability of businesses.

He held that no building over 3 stories should be built in the centre of Waterford, when many historic buildings were already taller. He didn't like places that sold alcohol. He took objection to certain signage. He put in more objections to An Bord Planala that any other person in the country, beaten only by organisations such as An Taisce.

It is simple revisionism to suggest that this guy was some kind of forward looking hero. Besides, he tended to object to the redevelopment of the city centre rather than out of town urban sprawl and ribbon development, which I always thought was the real killer with him. The green party, of which he was a member, is supposed to be in favour of sustainable development, whereas his attitude was that real development should be confined to the outskirts.

McCann aside, Waterford was not blessed(/cursed?) with anything like the same level of investment and development as occurred in the state's other four cities.