Malahide locals turn to more affordable Whitethorn abodes

The once-rural north Dublin suburb of Kinsealy is increasingly becoming a hotspot for developers catering to buyers who grew up in nearby Malahide but cannot afford the property prices in the affluent coastal town.

At Kinsealy Woods, off Chapel Road, the O’Flynn Group is developing 82 homes, while Ardstone Homes launched the first of 148 homes at Muileann on Kettles Lane in 2017.

Off Kinsealy’s Feltrim Road, between the Malahide Road and Kettles Lane, Coliemore Homes is developing Whitethorn, which will have 15 three and four-bed houses set around landscaped communal and recreational areas. Coliemore was the developer behind the recent Auburn Green and Ardmore Green schemes in Dun Laoghaire.

At Whitethorn, some of the houses command views of the surrounding countryside, with the three-bed properties that look on to fields being picked up by first-time buyers. While all the mid-terraced and end-of-terrace three-beds have sold out, there are still six three and four-bed semi-detached and detached styles available at Whitethorn.

One of the remaining homes is a three-bed detached home priced from €460,000; this type E style – the only one of its kind at Whitethorn – has its main entrance to one side and spans 1,216 sq ft. Two of the other properties still on the market belong to the C range, so they are three-bed semis in a double-fronted style with a floor area of 1,450 sq ft and a price tag of €465,000. The remaining three homes are in the type B semi-detached design, which has 1,650 sq ft of living space spread across three floors and costs from €540,000.

All the homes have an exterior finished in clay brick and render. The hardwood Ultra Tech front door, which has a side panel of glazing, is set in a recessed porch, and there are UPVC double-glazed windows from Munster Joinery throughout.

Instead of being located to the front, the paved driveway is to one side at some styles; this creates space to the front for a box of planter beds surrounded by the same brick used to face the bottom half of the façade. A lockable side passage gate leads to the rear lawn and patio.

Inside, there are 9ft-high ceilings to the ground floor. The painted shaker-style kitchen, with soft-close doors and drawers, was supplied by BeSpace and is complemented by a quartz granite worktop and splashback. There is integrated storage in the island units fitted to the type B range of four-beds, while the C and E styles of three-beds come with a breakfast bar.

All the house designs are sold with integrated appliances, including an oven, a hob, a fridge-freezer and a dishwasher, if contracts are signed and returned within 21 days.

BeSpace also fitted the step shaker-style wardrobes to the bedrooms. The bathrooms and ensuites, meanwhile, have tiling to the floors and the wet areas, sanitaryware, and heated towel rails. There are shower doors to the ensuites and a bath screen to the main bathroom.

Other interior finishes include recessed LED downlighters to the bathroom and kitchen, and satin chrome ironmongery throughout. Each house at Whitethorn was designed to achieve either an A2 or A3 BER, thanks in part to the roof-mounted PV panels that generate electricity, thereby offsetting energy costs. An A-rated gas condensing boiler works with the air-tight design to deliver efficient central heating that can be controlled from different zones throughout the home.

For commuters who buy at Whitethorn, Kinsealy is just a few kilometres from the M1 motorway, which leads to the M50 interchange and Ireland’s national road network.

The quality bus corridor along the Malahide Road offers direct access into Dublin city centre and there are Dart stations at Portmarnock and Malahide, with the average rail journey between Portmarnock and Pearse Station taking about 25 minutes. Malahide Village is less than a 10-minute drive from Whitethorn.

Viewings at Whitethorn will take place from 12pm to 1pm tomorrow