Estate agency group the Real Estate Alliance made their return to the auction market today, with 11 of the 18 properties to go under the hammer at the Davenport Hotel selling for a total sum of €1,024,000. Two further properties sold after auction and that, coupled together with one that sold before auction, brought to 14 the number of properties sold as a result of the event.
The undoubted success of the afternoon was the sale of lot 13 - 2nd and 3rd floor units at 1 Islandview, Harbour Road, Howth, Co Dublin - for well over four times its €40,000 reserve. After some frantic bidding from several interested parties, it eventually sold for €166,000.
It was one of seven lots to sell for above its reserve price, with two going at the reserve and two more going for under the reserve.
Indeed, it was one of the properties to sell for below its reserve that brought in the largest amount of the day. Lot 7, a Victorian residence on five acres at Firmount, Clane, Co Kildare sold for €250,000, which was still €45,000 less than its initial reserve of €295,000.
This was a 63% reduction on the €800,000 guide price sought for the same property at auction two years ago. It was sold by the Department of Defence, having previously been used by the Civil Defence organisation.
The cheapest lot of the day - a two-storey farmhouse with outbuildings at Cloongawnagh, Tooreenm Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo - opened the proceedings and sold for its guide price of €15,000.
The guide price of €100,000 was also achieved for lot 3, a ground floor apartment at 99 Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. However, both lot 4 - a farm at Derrymastur, Rooskey, Co Roscommon - and lot 5 - a site at Colruss, Tinahely, Co Wicklow - fell short of their respective reserves.
A sale was returned for lot 6, however, with 11 Millbrook, Milltown, Co Galway, selling for €2,000 more than its €35,000 reserve.
After lengthy bidding on lot 7, lot 8 - a unit at the New Street Mall in Malahide - fell €6,000 short of its €100,000 reserve but there was better fortunes for lot 9 - an apartment at 147 The Plaza in Ballymun, Dublin 11 - which sold for €16,000 above its reserve at €61,000.
Lot 14 - Ashfield House in Tuam, Co Galway - failed to sell after the success of the aforementioned Lot 13 but there was a good result for lot 15 - an office unit at Malahide Marina Village, which sold for €16,000 above its reserve at €66,000.
No bids were attracted for lot 16 - Glenville House in Rooskey, Co Roscommon - but the county did bring about the next sale. Lot 18 - a commercial property on Main Street in Castlerea - went for €6,000 above its reserve at €56,000.
Lot 19 - a 3 bed cottage at Crunkhill in Rooskey, fell €8,000 short of meeting its €69,000 reserve but there was better success for Lot 20 - an industrial unit in the Feltrim Business Park in Swords, Co Dublin - which sold for €1,000 above its reserve at €126,000.
Lot 2, which had earlier been put back to the end of the auction then completed the proceedings but 15 Auburn Lodge in Longford failed to sell, with the best bid falling €5,000 short of its €35,000 reserve.
The original catalogue had 20 lots listed but lot 12 (The Village Pub, Main Street, Clonmellon, Co Westmeath) was withdrawn before the auction while lot 17 (27 The Willows, Clonbalt Wood, Longford, Co Longford) sold prior to auction yesterday on the instructions of the vendor.
Real Estate Alliance will host their next auction on November 22nd next in the Strand Hotel in Limerick with further auctions planned for Dublin and the Midlands/West region in early 2013.
