The bad areas of Dublin for buying a house

riclad

Blanchardstown is a very large area, it's a mixture of private estates. And a few large local authority Council estates.
Just make sure you buy in a 100 per cent privately owned estate.
Most local authority houses are now owned by former tenants, they can sell the house but you'd be better off buying a private house eg in an estate not owned or run by the local authority eg dublin City Council.
Each area is different eg malahide is a very posh area all private houses but it's very expensive
Santry is a private estate area,
But much cheaper
Prices are rising every month as there's a great shortage of 2 or 3 bed houses for sale
Not many houses being built right now
Poppintree is part of ballymun all ballymun is local authority owned eg it was built as a large council public housing area
Ex council local authority Houses are usually cheaper
than say a house in santry or Beaumont
You should check before you buy ask the agent
Is this a private house
Or an ex local authority council house
Basically a council estate is in a working class area
You should at least know that before you buy a house
But most former tenants bought the house from the council
So after a few years they can sell the house to private another buyer
There are limits eg an investor would not usually be allowed buy
5 council houses in the same estate

riclad

riclad wrote: »

Blanchardstown is a very large area, it's a mixture of private estates. And a few large local authority Council estates.
Just make sure you buy in a 100 per cent privately owned estate.
Most local authority houses are now owned by former tenants, they can sell the house but you'd be better off buying a private house eg in an estate not owned or run by the local authority eg dublin City Council.
Each area is different eg malahide is a very posh area all private houses but it's very expensive
Santry is a private estate area,
But much cheaper
Prices are rising every month as there's a great shortage of 2 or 3 bed houses for sale
Not many houses being built right now
Poppintree is part of ballymun all ballymun is local authority owned eg it was built as a large council public housing area
Ex council local authority Houses are usually cheaper
than say a house in santry or Beaumont
You should check before you buy ask the agent
Is this a private house
Or an ex local authority council house
Basically a council estate is in a working class area
You should at least know that before you buy a house
But most former tenants bought the house from the council
So after a few years they can sell the house to private another buyer
There are limits eg an investor would not usually be allowed buy
5 council houses in the same estate

Prices vary by area
Eg a 1 bed house in malahide or Dublin 6 would be more
exoensive than a 4 bed house in ballymun
The most expensive places to buy are dublin 4 6
Basically quiet middle class areas
Eg lower price working class area
Lowest price council estate
Highest price middle class area
There's also a price gap
Eg northside versus soutside of the liffey
Eg southside in general equals more expensive than
Northside

riclad

I would avoid clondakin, tallaght, Poppntree i give it 2.5
out of 10
as said before in thread citywest lack of shops not much going on
Some areas you can forget eg malahide as house there is 400k
Dont forget city centre
There's good places to buy but a 3bed house costs 300 to 340k
City centre shops plenty of parks cafes etc
Theres houses for sale in most parts of the city centre
Just don't buy close to a pub or a nightclub

Caranica

riclad wrote: »

Just make sure you buy in a 100 per cent privately owned estate.

These don't exist and are subject to change, with legal requirements for social housing in developments, plus housing charities buying units plus privately owned homes being rented to the council etc.

Not forgetting that just because someone owns their own house it doesn't guarantee they're a good neighbour or good person. Look at all the houses being taken off the big criminals.

Ush1

riclad wrote: »

I would avoid clondakin, tallaght, Poppntree i give it 2.5
out of 10
as said before in thread citywest lack of shops not much going on
Some areas you can forget eg malahide as house there is 400k
Dont forget city centre
There's good places to buy but a 3bed house costs 300 to 340k
City centre shops plenty of parks cafes etc
Theres houses for sale in most parts of the city centre
Just don't buy close to a pub or a nightclub

There's houses in Tallaght and I'm sure those other areas that are well over 400k. It's gonna totally depend on what part and what house.

MSVforever

Cristianc wrote: »

Dublin is civilised when it comes to people being polite, driving carefully, keeping the city clean and green. I like that. The crime rate is very unusual for me.

In my home capital (EU) people are less polite, disrespectful of traffic regulations (3M cars moving bumper to bumper would probably do this anyway), traffic violence does occur - frustrated drivers care less about lanes or right of way. Everyone's in a hurry, trying to get ahead of everyone else, by all means.

But still, there's safety on the streets. There are no gangs, teenagers are shy, you don't see drug addicts and the homeless are very few. You don't get attacked.
A bad area means lots of cheap new apartments with bad infrastructure (dirt roads or old roads with many potholes), huge queues of cars and no parks, just concrete and dust from the new developments appearing everywhere. Works great with 35 deg outside.

I have travelled many countries all over Europe but I don't know any capital in Europe that has no issues with gangs, drug addiction and homelessness...What country are we talking about?

MSVforever

cluelessbuyer9 wrote: »

Agree with most of it but would swap Beaumont score with Lucan, Lucan is a terrible area imo. Very far from the city centre due to traffic, poorly designed, all the new housing around Adamstown has high % social housing. Big issues lie ahead.

I live in one of the new estates in Adamstown and we have less than 5% social housing here. There was only one family that caused a bit of trouble but they were rehoused so all is good. It seems to be that those agencies who are in charge of social housing in some areas can act quicker than SDCC.


One thing I agree though is that traffic is brutal during rush hour which will get worse. If you are working in town you can just hop on the commuter train which brings you in 15-20 minutes to Heuston station.

Supercell

OP the price will tell you all you need to know about an area. Everyone has personal opinions of places but the price isnt debatable.
The old adage - buy the worst house in the best area you can afford comes to mind.

riclad

riclad wrote: »

Just make sure you buy in a 100 per cent privately owned estate.

Doesn't exist.

riclad wrote: »

There are limits eg an investor would not usually be allowed buy 5 council houses in the same estate

In recent years the council themselves have bought at least five houses just on my road in my "privately owned" estate alone, I am unsure how many across the whole estate.

Plus there are many formerly privately owned homes now being rented out- could be on long term leases to the council or those in receipt of HAP (I don't know their circumstances).

People need to lose this mindset that they can avoid social housing, or that everyone in social housing is some type of scumbag.

You only ever hear stories of the "scumbag" social housing tenant, you never hear the stories of the good ones who make good neighbours and don't bother anyone.

Caranica wrote: »

Not forgetting that just because someone owns their own house it doesn't guarantee they're a good neighbour or good person.

THIS.

you2008

DullSpark wrote: »

There are a few okay areas in Dublin but you are never more then a stone throw away from a rough area. I think if you don't mind a small commute or better again you can work from home then you should consider living around Rathcoole or in to Kildare. You will get a far better house for your money too. I'm working on a housing estate where houses are going for around the €400000 and there no way worth it.

Agreed, you will pay me to live some of those areas, Had enough throw eggs & F*** back your country ect ..when I am walking in those St last 20 yrs, PS - I love Kildare - come on the lily white

riclad

riclad wrote: »

Blanchardstown is a very large area, it's a mixture of private estates. And a few large local authority Council estates.
Just make sure you buy in a 100 per cent privately owned estate.
Most local authority houses are now owned by former tenants, they can sell the house but you'd be better off buying a private house eg in an estate not owned or run by the local authority eg dublin City Council.

You should check before you buy ask the agent
Is this a private house
Or an ex local authority council house
Basically a council estate is in a working class area
You should at least know that before you buy a house
But most former tenants bought the house from the council
So after a few years they can sell the house to private another buyer
There are limits eg an investor would not usually be allowed buy
5 council houses in the same estate

I'm not sure I'd agree with that. Not all council houses are in council estates, and most of the council houses in places like Dublin 12 or Cabra would be majority privately owned for decades now. Modern council housing is more likely to be in somewhere like Citywest/Fortunestown or over towards Blanch. The point I'm making is places like Dublin 12 are very settled in this day and age with plenty of professionals and families, complementing the settled locals, who would be working working class, rather than joyriding working class, which I think is where your post may have been headed.

Mad_maxx

two of my sisters live in Beaumont , neither of them especially like it , not because its in anyway rough but its incredibly boring , has a rather ugly " village " with nothing in it , terrible transport links and awful traffic

Id still rate it slightly above Santry though

Mongfinder General

Mad_maxx wrote: »

two of my sisters live in Beaumont , neither of them especially like it , not because its in anyway rough but its incredibly boring , has a rather ugly " village " with nothing in it , terrible transport links and awful traffic

Id still rate it slightly above Santry though

Incredibly boring is incredibly attractive.

Mad_maxx

Mongfinder General wrote: »

Incredibly boring is incredibly attractive.

perhaps but ive been there myself many times and i would class it as a " lower middle class " area , i would aim to buy in a better area given the chance , it is still relatively affordable however and will probably benefit from " metro north "

Beaumont is grand , nothing more

C14N

I think almost any time someone is going to ask about "good" or "bad" areas it's a bit of a touchy subject. It's definitely tinged with a bit of classism/elitism no matter what, and nobody wants to hear that somewhere they like and that they have a good community in (which can realistically be anywhere) is considered a dodgy part of Dublin by others who probably spent way less time there. It's more the kind of thing you discuss in lowered tones with people you trust than in an open forum.

Some of the places the OP mentioned are huge too, like Tallagh or Lucan, especially going by property listings (where places 10km from Lucan village still get listed as "Lucan").

I'd say in addition to getting opinions of what people think about different parts of Dublin, try visit some of them. Set up viewings and explore the area around. Check out shops and neighbouring houses at a few different times of day to see if they're well-kept and if traffic is managable. You can generalise about an area but you'll want to know the specific street a lot of the time to really make an opinion. I've done this for areas I don't really know that I've been looking in, and it's been pretty informative.

Also, I remember a while back seeing a map made by Deliveroo drivers in Ireland of places they advise being careful making deliveries, which gives an idea of the level of petty crime. You can check it out here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1tpuCpBdmoIxrgG7oGjhGGtDUpk1FBdYt&shorturl=1&ll=53.324235238026496%2C-6.3081019485613705&z=15

Like most measures, it's subjective and not comprehensive so take it with a grain of salt (especially where some unusually straight-lines are drawn), but it gives some idea of what people who spend their days going around Dublin think of the places. As someone who doesn't know Dublin that well myself, it's given me at least some ideas of where you might want to have a closer look before buying.

C14N

C14N wrote: »

I think almost any time someone is going to ask about "good" or "bad" areas it's a bit of a touchy subject. It's definitely tinged with a bit of classism/elitism no matter what, and nobody wants to hear that somewhere they like and that they have a good community in (which can realistically be anywhere) is considered a dodgy part of Dublin by others who probably spent way less time there. It's more the kind of thing you discuss in lowered tones with people you trust than in an open forum.

Some of the places the OP mentioned are huge too, like Tallagh or Lucan, especially going by property listings (where places 10km from Lucan village still get listed as "Lucan").

I'd say in addition to getting opinions of what people think about different parts of Dublin, try visit some of them. Set up viewings and explore the area around. Check out shops and neighbouring houses at a few different times of day to see if they're well-kept and if traffic is managable. You can generalise about an area but you'll want to know the specific street a lot of the time to really make an opinion. I've done this for areas I don't really know that I've been looking in, and it's been pretty informative.

Also, I remember a while back seeing a map made by Deliveroo drivers in Ireland of places they advise being careful making deliveries, which gives an idea of the level of petty crime. You can check it out here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1tpuCpBdmoIxrgG7oGjhGGtDUpk1FBdYt&shorturl=1&ll=53.324235238026496%2C-6.3081019485613705&z=15

Like most measures, it's subjective and not comprehensive so take it with a grain of salt (especially where some unusually straight-lines are drawn), but it gives some idea of what people who spend their days going around Dublin think of the places. As someone who doesn't know Dublin that well myself, it's given me at least some ideas of where you might want to have a closer look before buying.

Great post and very true. In somewhere like Walkinstown, consider the massive difference between Cromwellsfort Road and say Walkinstown Park, which can be only ten minutes or less on foot away. Ditto Raheny Killbarrack area. Clondalkin would be a great example as well, plenty of affluent areas in pockets, yet parts like Neilstown wouldn't fit that description at all.

Nika Bolokov

Very difficult to evaluate Clondalkin or Tallaght as a whole.

They are enormous areas. If you are not familiar with them you may not realise just how big they are and the diversity of housing in them.

They were both sleepy suburbs up until the early 1980s when social housing was built quite a fair bit out from what were villages with areas like Neilstown, which was an empty field, being then called Clondalkin as that was the nearest post office to it.

Contrast say Belgard Heights in Tallaght with Jobstown, chalk and cheese and not even close to each other, a car journey away yet both are called Tallaght, or Monastery Road in Clondalkin with Neilstown. Again no comparison and literally a car journey away.

I wouldnt discount either of these areas, you likely get somewhere nice, built when houses were expected to have front gardens and spacious rooms in an exclusively private estate.

Going forward these are things that will matter, look at Stoneybatter or Kilmainhaim, considered kips or working class as recent as 15 years ago and now people are all over them.

Dont take a broad swipe at many of the areas on that list, go and visit them and make up your own mind.

I often find people who run down a place couldn't actually afford to buy there themselves so dont take Internet advice too seriously.

tscul32

Swords could be a good option. Good shopping centre, plenty of nice restaurants and bars. Not far from Malahide (some parts of Swords are only 10-15 minutes walk from Malahide estuary, 40 min walk to the village) close to the M1 and airport, good schools and plenty under €400k.

riclad

ballycullen is located in tallaght,
beaumont has plenty of bus stops,
slightly better than santry,
beaumont quiet middle class area. not far from city centre .8 out 10
think of cabra and coolock too
coolock 5.
cabra 8.
coolock has a large shopping centre

Sheeps

cluelessbuyer9 wrote: »

Agree with most of it but would swap Beaumont score with Lucan, Lucan is a terrible area imo. Very far from the city centre due to traffic, poorly designed, all the new housing around Adamstown has high % social housing. Big issues lie ahead.

Yeah, sure Id be happy enough to make that swap, but in and around Beaumont is hit and miss so I'd still keep it low on average. The actual physical area itself is nice, it's just some of the people.

Cristianc

Thank you for all the information. Quite an amazing amount of it.

I've seen 3br apts in the city center around 400+. But I wouldn't buy because of the ridiculous management fee, 4000+/year.
I wouldn't buy an apt whose management fee is more than 2000. I understand this is not an issue for houses. Would be probably the only reason I'd get a house as I don't fancy a garden.
I find gardens here almost unusable because of the weather. 17 deg+ and sunny is quite rare unfortunately, maybe with the global warming in the future.

I guess my perception as a foreigner is different. I am not impressed by most houses. An Edwardian red brick house with a big garden in front is impressive But I would never buy a house which looks like this https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-162-mellowes-road-finglas-west-finglas-dublin-11/3199569 - it's very depressed to me.

This is a decent looking house - https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-34-summerseat-court-clonee-dublin-15/3187878

Also, I would probably not buy in area which looks deserted - went to Clongriffin once and there was nobody on the streets, very eerie feeling.

Sheeps

A colleague lives in Dunboyne, slightly out further and loves it. Not sure about Clonee I think it's probably far enough away from the rougher parts in and around Blanchardstown that it's probably ok.

C14N

Cristianc wrote: »

I guess my perception as a foreigner is different. I am not impressed by most houses. An Edwardian red brick house with a big garden in front is impressive But I would never buy a house which looks like this https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-162-mellowes-road-finglas-west-finglas-dublin-11/3199569 - it's very depressed to me.

This is a decent looking house - https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-34-summerseat-court-clonee-dublin-15/3187878

Also, I would probably not buy in area which looks deserted - went to Clongriffin once and there was nobody on the streets, very eerie feeling.

Just an FYI, a lot of houses like the former are older houses built from the 50s-80s, often by Dublin County Council, and there's a lot of uniformity in their design. One thing about them though is that while the front facade tends to look quite outdated, often people will have them rennovated on the inside or added extensions so they're actually quite modern and stylish. If you can get over how they look from the front (or even just think about updating it yourself after buying) you can often find a pretty decent house inside. It doesn't help in that case in terms of looking "depressed" that they took the pictures on a wet rainy day.

Cristianc

Cristianc wrote: »

I guess my perception as a foreigner is different. I am not impressed by most houses. An Edwardian red brick house with a big garden in front is impressive But I would never buy a house which looks like this https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-162-mellowes-road-finglas-west-finglas-dublin-11/3199569 - it's very depressed to me.

This is a decent looking house - https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/terraced-house-34-summerseat-court-clonee-dublin-15/3187878

Thats just down to your own personal taste. We all have things we like in houses, and things we don't.

Personally, I wouldn't buy either of those as neither have private driveways, but if I had to pick between them, I'd buy the one in Finglas, and convert the garden to add parking (subject to permission to dip kerb).

Those 50s/80s era council builds are much more solid houses then some of the rubbish thrown up since, and this one has had a lot of work done to it already.

But that's my taste.

Caranica

Don't think houses have no management fees. Lots don't but plenty do. Our development is a mixture of apartments, duplexes and 2/3/4 bedroom houses. All pay management fees. The houses have no front gardens but have private back gardens.

riclad

90 per cent of houses have no management fees
Middle class areas tend to be quiet since the average age is 40 plus I see no problem living in a quiet area as you can get a bus or cycle to shops or parks.
A house with garden is a good investment long term even if you only use it a few weeks a year. Stoney batter has gone up a lot in price as its seen as a cool place to live
Just make sure theres a few shops or a supermarket within a mile of the housr
Most new houses are built to standard plans
I prefer old style victorian houses

Caranica

riclad wrote: »

90 per cent of houses have no management fees

Source?

KevRossi

Murt10 wrote: »

Think I came across this tip on Boards before.

Take the name of a road or area. Put it into google with + court or + charged and that'll give you some idea of the kind of area you're looking at
.

Ailesbury Rd., Dublin 4. Currently averaging €5,000,000 per house. You google the above and you end out with a solicitor on child pornography charges (dropped on a technicality) and a former leading IRA man and dodgy developer who had €140,000 hidden under his bath. And that's just page 1.

MSVforever wrote: »

I have travelled many countries all over Europe but I don't know any capital in Europe that has no issues with gangs, drug addiction and homelessness...What country are we talking about?

Madrid I'd say. If it is then try googling 'Canada Real', Europe's largest shanty town. That's one of several around Madrid. Other cities have a tendency to put trouble makers in a few select areas, we have them all over.

Having said that, I live in a very middle-upper middle class area. Comes out as 'affluent' in the Pobal survey. You have to take a roundabout way from here to the pub/shops at night as the harassment from teenagers gathered in the park is unreal. Parents are all well to do, nice cars in the drive, but they cannot believe that their precious darlings can cause an ounce of trouble. I've switched my running from evenings after work to mornings at 6 a.m. thanks to them. So each place varies.

I'm currently looking. My tips, these will assist in a bit of guidance, but i know good streets in 'bad areas' and bad streets in 'good areas' so it's nowhere near 100% foolproof:

1. Walk or better cycle around the areas first thing in the morning - look out for piles of rubbish, loads of cans and burnt out spots on the grass.
2. Do the same on a Sat or Sun afternoon in the good weather. Huge party and bar-b-q going on? Then gauge yourself if it's a one off or a regular occurance.
3. Drive around at night, especially weekends, 1am-4am to see if it's quiet or if all hell is breaking loose in some houses. Could be a one-off, could be regular.
4. Use Google and Bing maps to see into front and back gardens... if they're all neat and tidy fine and well, if not then you can judge that.
5. Cycle around in the evening and have a look at cars parked up in driveways.
6. Yes, use the Google search for crime and court cases. Better still, get an abo for a local paper and see what's in them and their archives.
7. If you know a Garda, get them to ask colleagues in that area as to what streets are to be avoided. They all know each other, or they know someone who knows someone in a particular station.

C14N

KevRossi wrote: »

Ailesbury Rd., Dublin 4. Currently averaging €5,000,000 per house. You google the above and you end out with a solicitor on child pornography charges (dropped on a technicality) and a former leading IRA man and dodgy developer who had €140,000 hidden under his bath. And that's just page 1.

Yeah tbh I don't think this is a great metric myself. Will only show up crimes major enough to get reported in the papers, and most of those are unlikely to affect many neighbours, as serious crimes are more often than not done between people who know each other well.

It won't give an idea of general hooliganism or anti-social behaviour, which is really what you're likely more concerned with, because for the most part nobody is writing an article about 5 youths who harassed some stranger walking by, or annoying their neighbours with loud music and noise.

olestoepoke

Getting the right area is important, especially if you have children. Things to consider are public transport, schools, clubs etc. That said in a semi-D it's a roll of the dice when it comes to what type of neighbours you get no mater what area you are in. The type of A holes who put up a gazebo and invite 20 people over to drink and listen to rave music till 4am like mine. And our estate would be regarded as a decent enough one with houses going for around the 350k mark.