A BARBER was forced to take a haircut of nearly €30,000 after the two-bedroom house he bought for €68,000 in 2004 went under the hammer for just €39,000 at the sixth Allsop Space auction which took place in the Shelbourne Hotel.
The two-bedroom semi-detached bungalow in Crenard, Co Cavan, was the smallest property up for grabs and the bidding had started at just €15,000. While he may have taken a hit, the Barber of Ballinagh was still said to be delighted with the sale as he left the hotel yesterday afternoon.
Sales of €13 million were generated which, organisers said, amounted to a 91 per cent success rate.
All but one of the properties that went up for auction were sold for above their maximum reserve price.
A developer from Northern Ireland and an American who moved to Ireland recently to be with her Irish boyfriend secured the other most talked about lots at the auction, in which 98 properties went under the hammer.
Most attention focused on a ghost estate at Woodlands Park in Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan. Up for sale were three houses, substantially complete except for kitchens and bathrooms, and a four-acre site with planning permission for more than 30 houses.
It was sold as one lot by receivers Kavanagh Fennell and had a reserve of €40,000 but when the bidding ended, the estate had fetched €122,500. The winning bid was made by a builder from Northern Ireland who declined to be identified. He told organisers that he planned to finish the houses and as soon as the documentation was signed, he left the hotel being pursued through St Stephen’s Green by a posse of press photographers.
Jeanette Delmonaco from Boston relocated to Ireland three years ago to be with her Cork boyfriend. Her move became that bit more permanent after she bought a three-bed country house in Macroom, Co Cork, for €104,000.
The auction is no longer considered a “distressed sale”, Allsop Space said, as some 50 of the properties were being sold on behalf of private individuals rather than receivers.
The highest price paid was for Darby O’Gill’s Hotel in Killarney, which sold to a Cavan bidder for €735,000, well above the reserve price of €515,000. Weir’s Pub in Dún Laoghaire, meanwhile, went under the hammer for €450,000.
The largest home, a four-bed house on Glenamuck Road, Carrickmines, Dublin, sold for €480,000, €40,000 above the reserve.
Other notable sales included two adjoining properties in Nun’s Island in Galway, which sold for €153,000 and €159,000 respectively – well above their €50,000 reserve.
A filling station on the Castlebar Road in Mayo sold for €525,000 – €200,000 above its reserve – and units in Drogheda Mall, Finglas, went for more than double their reserve price at €181,000.
“It is positive to see such a continued interest in the property market, as increasing transactions are central to future recovery, said Robert Hoban, director of auctions Allsop Space.
Angela Keegan of myhome.iesaid the auctions had now become part of the Irish property landscape. "They are part of the fabric of the market now and the razzmatazz has gone now.
“There were very few spectators in the room and everyone was in the room to do business.”
The auction was the second of five such auctions to be held by Allsop Space this year. The first, in March, generated €12.4 million when 94 per cent of the properties were sold, with seven withdrawn before the auction. About two-thirds of the properties were sold on the instruction of receivers.
The highest price paid was for a block of eight apartments on Dublin’s Ormond Quay, which sold for €1.02 million, well above the reserve price of €610,000.
