# University of Limerick Investment Property



## dod (10 Jun 2005)

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a new 5 bedroom house near UL and planning to rent to students. Any comments on the current rental market in the area given the number of on-campus units UL has built ?

Comments appreciated...


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## Peadar (10 Jun 2005)

Dod, 

There is a lot of new student accomodation built around UL recently. Make sure that your property is in very good condition, very close to UL( ie less than 5 minutes walk), and make sure it's not in Elm Park, as those houses are falling apart.

With the amount of accomodation around the college now students won't accept anything less than houses in the best condition and if they are renting a house instead of the College accomodation they want it to be very close to UL.

Talk to the accomodation officer in UL and see what the demand is like. I think there is an oversupply of student rental accomodation so make sure if your committed to purchasing that you get a good quality property

Peadar


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## zardebt (10 Jun 2005)

Is this a section 50 type ...?

In UL there is a saturation in the market and the fact that the University is not located in the city means there is plenty of scope for expansion. There was also a bridge built linking Clare  and a whole set of new apartments are being built in that area.

Take a look at datft.ie and do  a search on Castletroy and take a look at the large amount of rentals in the area.

Take a walk around the area and see the extensive amount of new building..

What make me wonder is that there is also a large number of apartment near UL that are unoccupied and run down and it seem that is more profitable to build new apartments than to do up  the old one so that they can be re-used why ?

Also I would be curious to see if the number of students increasing  justifies the number of new building --- don't think so !!!!!

_ this is just my take on it ......

Zardebt!


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## Cabbage (10 Jun 2005)

I personally believe the rental market around UL to be saturated, but if you are determined to buy to let around UL, the traditionally strongest areas are those more mature estates in good nick nearest the campus -- College Court, Oaklawns, or Briarfield. The newer developments at Bru na Gruadan or Curragh Birin are also reported to be renting strongly, but your mileage may vary.


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## valentine (28 Jun 2005)

Looked at this myself awhile ago and decided against. Drive around and different times of year and you will see lots of places with notices up for rent. Word is that the market is saturated and students have very high standards and great choice at the moment - very different to my day. Houses in Elm Park have decreased in value since we looked about two years ago.


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## navillus (1 Jul 2005)

Hi, I think it has pretty much been said but for what it's worth I rented there as a student until 2002.  As noted above due to supply/demand issues our rent was 50 per cent of the normal rate during the summer months as our landlord was grateful to have some income over this time.  Also, our landlord, who incedentially was the nicest I have ever come across (friendly, fair and brought beer as a present at Christmas!), was considering selling up one of his two properties at that stage as he felt that there was a lot of extra units coming on line.  He mentioned at the time that the President of UL had expressed the desire to make the university self-sufficient in terms of accommodation needs during his term.  Good luck what ever you decide.

N


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## Thrifty (15 Jul 2005)

Anybody think that now London will be hosting the Olympics that UL may benefit. They have very good sports facilities or is it a bit too removed from London.


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## Peadar (15 Jul 2005)

There is no doubt that teams will base themselves in UL and use it as a training camp in the preceding summers and up to the Olympics, but I don't see that as a basis for purchasing an investment property in the area. The sports campus in UL is very busy all the time with a variety of different sports availing of the facilities at the moment and there is still an oversupply of rental accomodation.  Anyway all those teams will surely be using on campus accomodation. 

Peadar


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