Citywest: How would the Luas affect our house price?

Hi,sorry if this is in the wrong forum but I'm a bit of a novice I'm afraid.I am currently living in Citywest and last month the planning permission for the extension to the red Luas line into our area was finalised.We had been thinking of selling up soon,but our next house would be a good deal dearer than our current one and we thought we'd hold off for a while.I'm really desperate to move as I have a baby on the way and want the extra space.Hubby on the other hand says we'd be pinned to the collar financially and we should wait until the Luas line is built.
My question is,would it be worth waiting up to two years to move i.e would it make such a difference to our (falling rapidly) house value?Or are we waiting round for a minimal,unguaranteed increase in value?
Many thanks for any advice

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

We were told by an estate agent that originally it was thought to decrease value but as the luas is so silent, the convenience outweighed the disruption. So, the current luas lines did increase the value of houses nearby, not too sure about houses directly fronting or backing onto the line though. I certainly would have been swayed with the convenience of a stop nearby!

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

The Bride said:

Hi,sorry if this is in the wrong forum but I'm a bit of a novice I'm afraid.I am currently living in Citywest and last month the planning permission for the extension to the red Luas line into our area was finalised.We had been thinking of selling up soon,but our next house would be a good deal dearer than our current one and we thought we'd hold off for a while.I'm really desperate to move as I have a baby on the way and want the extra space.Hubby on the other hand says we'd be pinned to the collar financially and we should wait until the Luas line is built.
My question is,would it be worth waiting up to two years to move i.e would it make such a difference to our (falling rapidly) house value?Or are we waiting round for a minimal,unguaranteed increase in value?
Many thanks for any advice

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I would suggest that if your husband is telling you finances are not good than listen to him. On the other hard house prices are likely to decrease significanly over the next 2 years and i do not think that in the medium term the promise of a Luas line will help counter that. When did you buy the house? Would you make any money on it if you sold it now. And could you afford to let it go now at a price that it will actually sell quickly at. In the long term however ten years say, Im sure the value of your house will have a premium because of its proximity to the Luas. How badly do you actually need a bigger house, is another consideration. If it was me i would probably sell quickly (rent for a year) watch prices fall and then buy again. But then again I am no expert.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

It is impossible really to predict what your house will be worth in 2yrs time. I would imagine some of the Luas premium has already been worked into local prices as people anticpate its construction. e.g. house worth xxxk now, luas adds say 40k value, 20k might already be factored in in reality... so in that case you'd be waiting around 2yrs for a 20k luas rise. Naturally external forces might have eroded house value by much more than that.

But really this is a complete stab in the dark attempt. Your best bet is to sit down, do the math and see can you afford to move. If you can and its what you want, then do so. If you can't then you've no choice but to wait and see.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

any chance the extension will be put on the long finger?

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

Mixed bag of opinions.I agree with the poster who said that the luas value could well be tied in to our current house price.
We bought in 05 and if we sold now (being optimistic) we would make around 30k.That would cover the stamp duty on the next place but not the deposit.
I hadn't thought of selling and renting for a year or two,but it would kill us to do that.we rented for years and would feel like we were back at square one with very little to show for our house purchase.
The extension is set to go ahead as far as I know.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

The extension was already delayed. It was supposed to be delivered in 2008. Now they're talking about 2010/11 before it will be in. Call me a wild optimist but it looks like it is actually on now. There's what I presume is speculative development still going on in Citywest Business Park near where the Luas will go so someone is betting on us coming out the other side of the current difficulties.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

The Bride said:

Hubby on the other hand says we'd be pinned to the collar financially and we should wait until the Luas line is built.
My question is,would it be worth waiting up to two years to move i.e would it make such a difference to our (falling rapidly) house value?Or are we waiting round for a minimal,unguaranteed increase in value?
Many thanks for any advice

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IMHO crystal ball stuff trying to figure out what will happen with house prices over the next few years.

If as your husband says 'you'd be pinned to the collar financially' then a baby will only make this financial situation tougher. Was always amazed how much the shopping bill went up once our two arrived.

jessie175 said:

We were told by an estate agent that originally it was thought to decrease value but as the luas is so silent, the convenience outweighed the disruption. So, the current luas lines did increase the value of houses nearby, not too sure about houses directly fronting or backing onto the line though. I certainly would have been swayed with the convenience of a stop nearby!

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Live quite near the Luas line and have never heard anyone including estate agents say that this would decrease value. We find it invaluable in light of the horrific traffic problems in/around Dublin at the moment.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

Hi there,

I could be totally wrong but I would not rely on the Luas to increase the value of your property. I have family living in Tallaght near the Luas and while it is very convenient for them I think that they would say it had little bearing on the monetary value of their house. I would imagine that if you were very close to the Luas and you were trying to sell that your house would be more appealing to a buyer than say one 10 mins away from the luas, iykwim.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

any chance the extension will be put on the long finger?

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Proposed Luas line through my area was dropped in the most recent version of the NDP, though included in previous versions. Locations, routes etc. of the many promised Luas, rail and underground routes around Dublin seem to be a moveable feast. Even the current two Luas lines had different routes when originally planned. I would be of the opinion that unless they are actually building the thing right now, that, given the current state of Government finances, there are no guarantees.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

Is this portion of the Luas not funded by private money including the people at the citywest complex. If so it's not going to be so vulnerable to any potential cutbacks.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

I would imagine the prices of houses on the luas route would go up. So long as structural damage never occurred to the house and I don't think it was an issue with the houses next to the existing lines - I am open to correction though.
With the amount of houses out there to be connected i would also guess that it will go ahead soon as it was delayed.
If you other half suggests it would be a struggle then stay put and worry about fitting children into the picture when that eventuality occurs.

Re: How would the Luas affect our house price?

I live very close to the Luas green line (1 minute walk to our local stop, mind you only 15 minutes walk to Stephens' green) and it would kill me to move away from it. It's fantastic.

It's going ahead as it's largely funded by Hickey and Mansfield. The Luas A1 railway order has already been granted.

If you drive along the new Outer Ring Road extension (between the N7 and the N81), you can already see that indentations for the Luas tracks (where it will cross the road) have been made already.

The Bride said:

My question is,would it be worth waiting up to two years to move i.e would it make such a difference to our (falling rapidly) house value?Or are we waiting round for a minimal,unguaranteed increase in value?
Many thanks for any advice

Click to expand...

Considering the easily researched fact that rents near the Luas lines are higher than those for similar properties, similar distances from the city centre, with no tram, I'd say it's fairly obvious your house will be worth more when it opens. Such houses are one of the safer investment bets at the moment for a start.

Anyway the price of your current house, at worst, will track the price of your new home, especially if you intend going further out for the bigger pad. If yours falls so will the other and maybe by more. Why would yours fall by more, relative to the other?

You say you rented for years and then bought in 2005. Well 2005 was near the top of the market - did desperation to get on the ladder colour your financial smarts then? The sprog will be absolutely fine in your house until it's at least two - what do you need the space for? Baby junk? Please don't think I'm having a go, but maybe you're using the baby as an excuse to force a move that doesn't really look all that sensible for at least the two years your hubby is talking about, at least until all the current uncertainty shakes out.

I'll say one other thing though - keep your eyes open. You might find that someone in a house similar to what you're after is 'desperate' for a sale for their own reasons (an idiot investor who jumped in in 2006 and has found that their Polish lodgers have buggered off and can't be replaced, for example), given that houses are on the market for months at a time right now. Look out for suspicious drops and estate agents trying to claim you're basically stealing from them. You might get something for up to 10% below asking price under the right circumstances. I know because I just bought for 17% below original asking price.