WHAT’S BEEN GOING on in the world of real estate this week?
Here’s your bite-sized update on all things property-related, both in Ireland and further afield – from Facebook’s town planning to a five-star slice of the market in Co Kildare.
1. Government’s ‘over-reliance’ on private rentals will cost the economy
The governmental target of making 87,000 private rental units available to address the housing crisis will come at a major cost for the economy, according to a Maynooth University report.
Providing the rental units will be €23.8bn more expensive over a 30-year period than using local authority buildings, the report states. It also calls for the tripling of spending on social housing to €1 billion per year.
2. Fancy owning a five-star hotel? Carton House is for sale
Kildare’s famous Carton House hotel has just gone on the market, with an asking price of €60m. The owners say they have reached a consensual agreement with NAMA to put the estate, totalling 668 acres, up for sale.
The hotel has 165 bedrooms, two 18-hole golf courses, and GAA and rugby training pitches, and has seen around €90m of refurbishments since 1999.
3. Here’s what Cork’s €40m dump-turned-park will look like
A massive clean-up operation will see a 22-acre Cork steelworks dump turned into a state-of-the-art park. Haulbowline Island, previously the site of Irish Ispat, carries four decades of steel waste.
Cork County Council first confirmed plans for rehabilitation of the area in 2011, and this week signed official contracts for the overhaul with PJ Hegarty & Sons Ltd.
4. Ballymun to get 2,000 new modular homes
Around 2,000 new homes will be constructed in the Ballymun area as part of ongoing regeneration efforts. Dublin City Council this week voted in favour of plans to build modular housing units as an answer to the city’s affordable housing crisis.
Other plans on the agenda include the continued redevelopment of Ballymun Main Street, including the shopping centre site, and the moving of Ballymun Kickhams GAA club into the centre of the village.
5. Facebook reveals plans for its custom-designed town
It’s the biggest social network in the world, but Facebook will soon become a community IRL, too. The internet giant unveiled plans for a massive new construction project at its corporate HQ in California, to include housing, shops, a hotel and more.
Facebook bought the 56-acre site in 2015 for around €350m. The new development has been pitched as a “mixed-use village,” to house both employees and non-employees.
Property can be far from a simple topic, and each Friday we decipher yet another piece of jargon, to give you the upper hand in conversations with estate agents (and fellow house-viewers). This week, it’s mixed-use development, a term Facebook HQ used to describe its new bespoke town.
A mixed-used development typically blends residential, commercial and industrial uses – for example, an apartment complex that includes office space and retail outlets.
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