The quiet purchase of Lota, at 26 Coliemore Road in Dalkey, for €7.5 million by Gene Murtagh, the Kingspan boss, marks the biggest residential-property sale in the capital so far this year. Following its appearance on the property-price register in recent days, it is the third substantial sale along this short coastal stretch of south Co Dublin, and it brings the tally to nearly €20 million.
The nearest and dearest sale is that of Iniscorrig, two doors up, which sold late last year for €7.8 million (although the sale didn’t appear on the price register until May of this year). A grand castellated neogothic affair with its own jetty, it had come on the market in 2015 seeking a hefty €10 million. The buyer there is understood to be a member of the O’Flaherty family of car importers.
Closer to the village, at the start of the seafront stretch and accessed under an archway from Coliemore Road, is 1 Coliemore Villas, one of four elegant early Victorians overlooking the sea.
Number 1 was purchased in 2015 in need of substantial repair by an Australian couple – and previous Dalkey dwellers – Karen and Warwick White, for €2.35 million. A lavish refurbishment ensued, estimated to have cost €1.2 million, with the couple living there for only a matter of weeks. Looks like the hard work paid off: earlier this year the sale of number 1 popped up on the register at €4.2 million. Even with the refurbishment costs thrown in, not a bad €650,000 profit on what was essentially a two-year flip.
First viewer sealed deal
The off-market sale of Lota, by its developer owner, Francis Rhatigan (who paid €4.5million for the property on more than 0.5 acre in 2002) , is believed to have been brokered by Sherry FitzGerald, in near record time, with the first viewer sealing the deal.
The property sits along one of the best stretches of Coliemore Road, better even than that of Iniscorrig, which raises questions about the registered selling price for Lota coming in below that of Iniscorrig – a year on, in a growth market. Iniscorrig has a very distinctive appeal, but Lota, on a larger site (and with a slipway to the water), has a more conventional style and layout that would surely have wider appeal, not least because its owners finished it to the highest of standards. Perhaps further value was placed on the contents in a separate transaction.
These three deals in rapid succession reflect the very strong appetite for these coastal properties, and catapult Coliemore Road into the hottest stretch of real estate in Dublin – although denizens of Dalkey would never have doubted that for a moment.
