A DALKEY house valued three years ago at €6.25 million has been sold for €1.4 million.
Fairlawn House on Saval Park Road in Dublin stands on an acre of grounds and was expected to sell as both a trophy home and a potential site for housing when it came on the market in May 2007.
Estate agents Lisney described it as “offering immense potential for further development subject to planning permission”.
The guide price did not seem mad at the time – a nearby house with a far smaller garden had sold for over €5.5 million.
However, Fairlawn failed to sell at auction in June 2007 and has been for sale ever since, through different agents, its price sliding in line with the collapsing property market.
In 2008 the price dropped to €5 million; by 2009 it was available at €3.4 million; and by September last year Fairlawn was down to €1.75 million.
It has finally been sold at €1.4 million to a couple who live locally.
The recent cut in stamp duty from 9 per cent to 1 per cent will mean a substantial saving for the new owners.
Fairlawn is an Edwardian five-bedroom house with lots of living space and more than enough room to extend into the garden, subject, of course, to planning permission.
The property is screened by immense trees and has very extensive road frontage which would obviously enhance its chances of getting planning permission if required down the line.
The house is listed, which might have put off developers over the last three years, but it is likely that the new owners will investigate its potential in the years to come.
The slide in house prices has been more pronounced at the top end of the market, where prices rose spectacularly during boom years.
Most are down by at least 50 per cent and even then they are proving difficult to sell.
In the same month that Fairlawn went up for sale in May 2007, a large redbrick at 43 Ailesbury Road was sold at about €8.5 million.
It was bought by financier Derek Quinlan, who last week put it back on the market asking for €2.95 million.
