Fuel prices effects on property

Kipperhell

When I was buying my house I was concerned fuel prices would go up so I bought close to Dublin city centre. I reckoned the rising prices of fuel would really bite as time moved on. The only problem is the houses closer tend to be older and not as well insulated so they cost more to run even after insulating further.

I was just wondering do people reckon distance will become a factor due to transport costs not even to mention commute times? It did effect my decission but I was wondering if more people will start thinking this way.

DublinDilbert

I think that will be a factor in the demand/price of houses in commuter towns, not sure how big of an effect it would have within the city... I know people who five years ago were spending €60/week on diesel to drive in from navan, going by todays prices they must be paying €110/week, this assumes the same usage, but we all know traffic has got much worse....

Obviously we've no idea what the future holds, maybe a congestion charge like london who knows, but if this did happen a house within the city would be quite desirable.

I was on daft the other day and i saw a 1 bedroom apartment on Burgh Quay going for €229K, which surprised me, as about 12 months ago 1 bedroom apartments in mulhudard were going for €280K!!!

johnnyskeleton

I think it will be the biggest factor in years to come. David McWilliams (unlikeable though he is) is probably correct in his view that most of the people who live in commuter towns are from Dublin, work in Dublin, and dream of eventually owning in Dublin. Rising fuel costs makes it more attractive to live near town, or at least on a good bus route, thus reducing demand on commuter locations, thus catching the people in commuter towns out so that they can't sell and are paying more to drive each day.

To backtrack a bit, the two main draws of commuter towns were:
1) the rural setting with local schools, nice pubs and nature walks and
2) the better size of property for the amount of money spent.
The main disadvantages, as you point out, were:
A) commuting time to work and
extra expense of lots of driving.

However, the draw of 1) has been reduced due to the massive numbers of people who live in commuter towns (and the related drain on local amenities) so it's really a case of price drops and increased quality (yeah, I know!) in commutersville outstripping price rises in petrol and increases in commute times.

Kipperhell

I would say the draws for commuter towns were
1) Price
2) Size

The whole nature walks and nice pubs was never a reason with any of the people I knew. They just used to say price and size. General areas were mentioned about being good or bad but as you say most wanted to be in Dublin and planned on coming closer later.

Nobody I knew ever thought it was risk free but felt that a bigger house was best rather than potential fuel increases. It has happened quicker than I thought.

I still feel Dublin prices will drop less and increase first. Just now I think fuel costs will be a bigger factor.

ZYX

In a logical world fuel prices should make a difference but I dont think they will unless prices reach €3 or €4 a litre. People just ignore cost of commuting. A person with a one hour commute each day spends 2 hours a day in car or 10 hours a week. If they spent this time working at say €15/hour they would make about €8000 per year. So their commute is costing them €8000 even before petrol costs are included. Not to mention the effect commuting has on your quality of life.

ongarite

I think you are wrong with that one. I know of one person in the company I work for you commutes from Portlaoise to Dublin dailywho is feeling the effect of rising fuel prices already. Costing around €120 a week just to travel to & from work now.

markpb

ongarite wrote: »

I think you are wrong with that one. I know of one person in the company I work for you commutes from Portlaoise to Dublin dailywho is feeling the effect of rising fuel prices already. Costing around €120 a week just to travel to & from work now.

I know several people who used to commute from Kildare & Meath and are considering moving into the city because of the cost of fuel.

mikemac

I predict sales of motorbikes to explode
And if they don’t I’ll be wondering why not