Ups and downs of Muckridge House charts recent Irish property history

THERE’S money in muck, they say, and there was certainly money for Muckridge House.

This large, 8,000 sq ft Georgian house on the edge of Youghal in east Cork, was sold quickly back in 2006 for a rumoured €8-€9 million or so, prior to its planned sale by tender when it had been guided at a lower €5m.

The reason it went so strongly? It was the height of the boom, its 100 acres — with over 35 acres zoned for development — was grist for fuelled speculation, and there was a pipeline of easy money from the banks for just such sorts of property. It was bought by a consortium with a legal background, it was then quickly part sold on, and its valuation rose as high as €14m within a year or so when a pension fund got involved.