A DETACHED house on Shrewsbury Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, was sold for £1,550,000 yesterday, the highest price yet paid at auction for a Dublin home. The previous record was set last December when a house on Temple Road in Dartry, Dublin, made £690,000.
The house, Pitcairn, was last sold in the 1920s for £3,500. The seven bedroom house is in need of total refurbishment which could cost the new owner at least £250,000, according to the agent.
The price took the property market by surprise even in a year when prices have risen at an unprecedented rate. Three years ago there were no bidders at an auction for the house next door. It was later sold privately for £675,000.
The price confirms Shrewsbury Road as the most expensive and fashionable Dublin address.
There were four bidders in the packed auction room when bidding offers opened at £500,000. It took less than five minutes to sell the house to a Dublin estate agent who was acting for an undisclosed client.
The buyer is believed to a Dublin born business man currently involved in the computer industry in Washington DC.