Our Lives in Property: Oxmantown Road, RTÉ One, Monday, September 3rd at 9.35pm
With its picturesque rows of redbrick houses stretching from one end of Stoneybatter to another, the residents of Oxmantown Road in Dublin 7 know all about the ups and downs of Ireland’s property market.
In Dublin alone, asking prices are up by 70 percent in just six short years, while rents too are at an all time high.
During the past 100 years, the 200 or so houses on Oxmantown Road have changed hands thousands of times.
And in many cases, neighbours living on the same road have paid vastly different amounts for similar homes over the past decades.
Others have first-hand experience of soaring rental prices for houses located in Dublin’s city centre.
As recently as five years ago, a house on the road sold for €140,000 euro. Today, eager house-hunters are paying up to three times that amount to live on the road, located around the corner from the Phoenix Park and close to an array of hip cafes, restaurants and bars.
Our Lives in Property: Oxmantown Road uses the experiences of those living on one Dublin street to paint a picture of the Irish property market across the past fifty years and more- and to chart its course from boom to bust and back again through the stories of those who moved here at different times.
The Stone Family
Charlie, Antoinette, Paul and Mary Stone grew up on the Oxmantown Road. Their Uncle Shay and their father Charlie passed away in the last year. As a family they are now faced with the hard task of selling both of their homes on a road that holds so many memories. The four siblings share their stories of growing up on such a special street, in particular about their father who worked in Dublin Zoo, and their late uncle Shay.
Davina Smith
Davina, who is originally from Cork, fell in love with the Oxmantown Road when she first viewed her house. She bought for €310,000 and has been living on the road since 2003, seeing the price of her home rise and fall in the intervening period.
Davina is heavily involved with the local Stoneybatter “Pride of Place” Committee and The Stoneybatter Festival. Her home already holds many memories both happy and sad.
Joe Melligan
Joe’s family history is embedded in Oxmantown Road. They moved in just before the Easter Rising and when it came to him buying his own home in 1973 he knew exactly where he wanted to be. Joe paid £4,000 for the house and paid off his mortgage in five years. He recalls a childhood growing up on the street in the 1950’s – and the many changes that have happened to the area since then.
Conor Pope and Sonia Harris
Journalist Conor originally bought his house on Oxmantown Road in 1999 for £127,000 . At the time, he was worried he had already missed the property boat such was the property frenzy in Dublin.
He rented the house out for a number of years and moved back in five years ago with his partner Sonia and his two girls. This year they welcomed a new addition to their lives and the youngest new resident of Oxmantown Road, baby Ruby. For him, the Oxmantown Road area is virtually unrecognisable to the road he first moved into at the turn of the Millennium.
Jaco Swanepoel
Jaco is from South Africa and moved to Dublin for work. His aim was to live in Stoneybatter. He loved the neighbourhood and the style of houses. He set himself a task of saving for his dream house. Jaco bought in January 2016 for €250,000 and since then has been busy renovating the property himself, using YouTube videos as his guide. His house has soared in value in the space of just two years.
Mariah Walton
Mariah is from the USA and moved here to work in LinkedIn. After renting for over a year she wants to put down roots and buy a house in Dublin. Stoneybatter is on her list of desired locations and she is mortgage approved and ready to buy, with a budget of €375,000 for the right place. But with asking prices soaring in the last six months, she is increasingly worried that she is being priced out of the area.
Grace Scott (renting on the street for 88 years)
One of the oldest residents of the road is 92-year-old Grace Scott. Her family originally lived across the street – but moved a few years later and she has been there ever since. They rented and she continues to rent. Grace has seen many changes to the road over the years and her memories are a treasure trove of times gone past.