today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-01-20T140202Z_01_L20788175_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-IRELAND-SHED.XML&archived=False

Irish beach hut on market for 120,000 euros

Fri Jan 20, 2006 2:01 PM GMT15



DUBLIN (Reuters) - It's about the size of a garden shed, has no electricity and a toilet with no sewage outlet.

But such is Ireland's property boom that the grandly named Neptune Cottage in county Wicklow has been put on the market for 120,000 euros (82,250 pounds) -- all 200 square foot (18.6 sq metres) of it.

"They don't come up that often, which is why it's generating so much interest," said Roisin O'Grady, an assistant at auctioneers Hassett (www.hassett.ie) who put the property on the market.

The tiny timber-framed hut would not be tranquil -- it backs on to the Dublin-Rosslare rail line -- but does face the beach at Kilcoole, Wicklow, about 25 miles (40 km) outside Dublin.

It measures 15 feet 6 inches by 12 feet 8 inches (4.7 by 3.9 metres) and is divided into two little rooms, one with a kitchen and a bed while the "living room" sleeps three, on a sofa and a divan bed, O'Grady said.

The property has a felt roof, uses bottled gas for cooking and heating and only has an outside chemical toilet.

Ireland has one of the fastest growing economies in the euro area and the boom has fuelled a surge in construction. The cost of homes tripled between 1997 and 2004.

Last September, a former tool shed built to fill a gap in the middle of a row of Victorian houses in what was once Dublin's poorest district got snapped up for 220,000 euros.

i will enjoy laughing in the face of these idiots when the housing bubble finally crashes.