More house hunters buying at auctions
âOur firm has turned a significant corner, witnessing a remarkable increase in the number of private and non-distressed vendors coming to the market,â said Rob Hoban, director of Auctions at Allsop Space which sold âŹ48m in properties at a one-day auction in Dublin last Wednesday.
âWhen we started Allsop, we were in the depths of recession where nothing was selling, so a lot of the properties were distressed.
âThat has all changed, now, and more people are seeing this as a good alternative way to sell.â
Buyers looking for bargains snapped up properties at the latest Allsop Space property auction held at the RDS. They ranged from a derelict mill for âŹ62,000 to a nine-bedroom house for âŹ150,000, More than 1,000 bidders attended the auction which featured 175 properties divided equally between distressed properties being sold on the orders of a bank or receiver, and private sales.
Ten properties sold for more than âŹ1m each.
âWe are also seeing a growing number of young couples attending our auctions to buy their first home,â said Mr Hoban.
âWe are also getting more small and medium-sized businesses attending to buy vacant premises. That is very encouraging and is a sign of a normalisation of the property market in general.â
A Temple Bar property thatâs home to Sin nightclub as well as eight apartments fetched the biggest price of the day at âŹ2.35m, while a block of six two-bedroom flats in Dublin 6 sold for âŹ1.9m.
A Victorian mansion on 30 acres in Killala, Co Mayo, went for âŹ765,000 â around âŹ200,000 more than its reserve, while a four-bed semi in Tuam, Co Galway, fetched âŹ41,000.
A nine-bed former B&B with a four-bed home in its grounds, situated just outside the tourist town of Ballyvaughan, in Co Clare, sold for âŹ150,000, while a derelict mill plus former Garda barracks on five acres of land beside the River Shannon fetched âŹ62,500.