CONOR POPE, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
At one stage, there were fears the auction would be suspended due to overcrowding but after appeals from the podium many tyre-kickers and casual onlookers left
It is unlikely, however, the men in suits from the Bank of Scotland overseeing the sale of repossessed assets from the back of the hall or the residents and property investors of Temple Bar were clapping. The first property to go, a studio in Lensman House on Essex Street, sold for €126,000. According to industry sources it would easily have commanded €250,000 four years ago.
While there was much talk of the Temple Bar property ahead of the auction, it was by no means the most headline-grabbing lot. The cheapest house was a three-bedroom in Grange Heights, Mullingar. It had a reserve of €22,500 and sold for €30,000. The only house which did not sell was in Dún Na Rí, Co Carlow, which failed to reach its reserve of €77,500.
Apartments in Castleknock sold for substantially less than €200,000, a penthouse apartment a stone's throw from the Central Bank went for under €350,000, as much as €1 million less than the developers who brought the complex to market wanted in 2007, while a four-bedroom mews house in Ballsbridge, the leafiest and most affluent part of the country, sold but failed to make the maximum reserve of €600,000.
To say there was standing room only would be an understatement and, at one point, the auction spilled out on to the street in front of the hotel where one successful bidder secured a property – an apartment in Portlaoise – while standing in the sun on the hotel steps.
There were even fears the auction would have to be suspended due to the overcrowding but after appeals from the podium many tyre-kickers and casual onlookers left and made room for genuine buyers. The auction was also broadcast to Doheny and Nesbitts a couple of hundred metres away and while the pub was filled with good cheer – and a lot of beer – that was not where the real business was being done.
CASTLEFORBES SQUARE, DUBLIN
Reserve prices : €100,000, €140,000, €180,000.
Sold for : €99,000-€190,000
This development between the IFSC and the O2 is made up of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and went on sale in 2007 with much talk of investment potential. At that time the 54sq m one-bedroom apartments had an asking price of €340,000, the two-beds of 64-78sq m started at €440,000 while the three beds of 89sq m were priced from €530,000. In 2009 a further phase of the development was launched and reflected a changed reality. Prices had fallen and the one-bedroom units were €204,000, two-beds had an asking price of €250,000 and the three-beds were selling from €349,000. Or at least they were on the market for that price. Many did not sell and yesterday 10 formed part of the distressed auction. The one-beds ended up going for between €99,000 and €129,000, the two-beds reached €190,000. One of the three-bedroom apartments secured a price of just €179,000 and another sold for €185,000.
44 CHANCERY COURT, BRIDE STREET, DUBLIN
Reserve €230,000
Sold for : €345,000
In May 2007 this 119sq m (1,284sq ft) three-bedroom penthouse unit, with the look and feel of the ultimate bachelor pad, was released on to the market.
With a price tag of €1.35 million, the bachelor in question would want to have had money to burn. And had they bought at that time they would have ended up getting badly burned. It came completely furnished "with a funky city-pad feel" and the standard fit-out included polished marble flooring, a jacuzzi and spot lighting.
It also had extensive balconies offering views over the city.
The property sold yesterday for €345,000 and the student doctor, whose parents won the auction, could scarcely conceal her delight at the price paid.
1 WILLFORD COURT, BRAY, CO WICKLOW
Reserve : €105,000
Sold for: €154,000.
When this small scheme on the Dublin side of Bray was launched in 2004, two-bedroom apartments carried a price tag of €320,000.
Three years later, the last of three low-rise blocks were launched and the price of one-bedroom apartments had climbed to €420,000, while the bigger two-beds were changing hands for substantially more. Yesterday the property, one of the two-bedroom units, reached €154,000 before the gavel fell.
3 SEAVIEW, CLIFDEN, CO GALWAY
Reserve €102,500
Sold for : €141,000
This terraced building was constructed on three storeys and arranged as three units, a one-bedroom apartment and two apartments with two bedrooms. Up until quite recently it was on sale through more traditional channels with an asking price of €280,000. It sold yesterday for €141,000.
BRIDLE WALK, KILMINCHY, CO LAOIS
Reserve €35,000
Sold for €61,000 - €64,000
Four houses were for sale in this complex on the outskirts of Portlaoise and they carried some of the lowest maximum reserves. The top reserve in all cases was just €35,000. A similar apartment in the same development, Bridle Walk, has been listed for sale elsewhere in recent months at €170,000 and would have cost more again at the height of the boom. There was keen interest in the properties at the auction and they quickly exceeded the maximum reserve with all four selling for between €61,000 and €64,000.
AUBURN PARK CASTLEKNOCK, DUBLIN
Reserves ; €165,000/€190,000
Sold for : €159,000 - €207,000
In November 2007, this 45-apartment development on the Old Navan Road went on the market with prices starting at €475,000 for one-bedroom apartments with about 58sq m of living space.
Two-bedroom apartments of between 79-87sq m were priced from €565,000 while 94sq m three-bedroom duplexes cost from €750,000.
Yesterday, eight of the properties were up for sale. A two-bedroom apartment in the complex sold for €159,000 while a three-bedroom unit commanded a price of €207,000.
42 RAGLAN LANE, BALLSBRIDGE, DUBLIN
Reserve : €600,000
Sold for: €550,000
At the very height of the boom, some people were putting values of as much as €1,900 a square foot on properties in Ballsbridge. One mews-style house on Raglan Lane sold at auction for €2.5 million in May 2007 while, early last year, another four-bed mews went on the market for €1.5 million.
This stone-clad 213sq m (2,300sq ft) four-bedroom mews with a roof terrace, a balcony and a patio was one of the few properties which failed to reach the advised maximum reserve. It sold for €550,000, which works out at about €250 a square foot.
108 LOWER CHURCHTOWN RD, DUBLIN
Reserve €400,000
Sold for €495,000
This detached four-bed on a large site next to Milltown Golf Club had a maximum reserve of €400,000 as did the house next door.
The two properties sold separately but had a clear link as in 2006 planning permission was granted to demolish them to make way for a three-storey development of 18 apartments and three one-bedroom apartments.
Prices on the road can vary dramatically but a similar sized house in the area sold for €1.1 million in early 2007.
15 WESTON CRESCENT, WESTON PARK, LUCAN
Reserve : €250,000
Sold for: €250,000
At the height of the boom houses in this settled estate were commanding prices of just under €600,000.
At yesterdays auction, this four-bedroom house, the biggest of a number of properties for sale in the Lucan area, struggled to make just a third of that price.
It did make, however, the maximum reserve but only just and eventually sold for €250,000.
25 GORT NA CARRAIGE, CORRANDULLA, CO GALWAY
Reserve €125,000
Sold for : €124,000
This four-bedroom house, in a village 16km from Galway city, would once have commanded a price of close to €300,000. It was one of the last houses to sell yesterday and went for just €1,000 under the advised maximum reserve.
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