Multi-million euro properties meeting strong interest

THE upper end of the residential market is strong, with buyers prepared to commit to multi-million euro purchases irrespective of the punitive 9% stamp duty.

Giving tax/stamp duty relief to buyers who can afford houses in this league isn’t a political priority so the attitude seems to be ‘if it’s there and you want it, buy it.’

Case in point was the sale, at auction, last week of Rosenheim, a Georgian villa in poor repair on the city end of Cork’s Blackrock Road. The single-storey house on 1.2 acres had seven bidders prepared to buy at the €2m-plus mark.

It sold for €2.7m at auction, via Hugh McPhillips, of Marsh’s, to a local buyer with shipping/transport/storage businesses. It is understood the buyer had been an underbidder on other multi-million euro city sales in the past year.

Guide price for Rosenheim had been €1.7m, which reflected the spending required on this protected property. Despite the amount of ground with the house, sold for owner Finbarr O’Sullivan, development potential was not an issue.

At €2.7m, it is the strongest residential auction result under the hammer in Cork, said Mr McPhillips, who also holds the main Leeside residential sales record of €5 million for Woodlawn in Sunday’s Well, sold earlier in a low-key deal this year to motor dealer Bill Keary.

Celebrity couple Carol Vorderman and partner journalist Des Kelly have sold their contemporary Bar na Don, Glandore West Cork second home for close to its €2.5 million guide with agent Charles McCarthy, to buyers from Dublin with West Cork roots.

Meanwhile, out in the eastern end of Co Cork, the Georgian Glenview House on 20 acres has finally found a buyer, after a long period on and off the market. It fetched over €2.5 million via agents Michael H Daniels and Keane Mahony Smith, and was bought by an Irish person returning from the UK.

West of the city, another house a long time on the market, Sea Court on 10 acres at Butlerstown near Timoleague and Courtmacsherry, on 10 acres and used in the past for guest accommodation, made around €2.25 million with spirited final bidding. Successful bidders, via Michael H Daniels again, were Irish people returning from the US.

Tipping over the €1 million mark, Ballinterry House the home on five acres of the late actor Hurd Hatfield, on five acres in Rathcormac, and in need of extensive renovation, was bought on five acres for over €1 million by a couple from Cork city via Daniels & Co, who also, jointly with Shelley and Purcell, sold Pallas House, in Woodstown, Co Waterford, with 32 acres for €2.9 million to local buyers.

Up in Birr, Co Offaly, agents Colliers Jackson Stops achieved €2.8 million for Ballyeighan House, a fine 19th century villa designed by Bernard Mullins, on 83 acres.