Gone were the regular protests outside the hotel and gone was the media circus surrounding the events. Those that were there meant business and the ‘spectator sport’ element of the auction was largely left behind.
In total just under €13 million was raised from 87 sales, with 72 of those selling for above their reserve price.
When Allsop Space held its first auction here in April 2011 it was criticised in some quarters for selling distressed properties.
However, that trend is slowly changing as property auctions become part and part of the current market.
Take the example of the barber who was quite willing to take a haircut for example.
Derek Carberry of Killester Barbers was at yesterday’s auction sweating over the outcome of the sale of the lowest priced reserve for a house in the auction.
He had his house in Cavan listed at 'no more than €15,000', having turned down a bid of €30,000 for it in the run up to the event.
The cheapest units to ever make it into the auction book have so far been private sellers and this one was the cheapest to start off under the hammer (last auction there was a house in Leitrim that listed at €7,500 but it was pulled out of the auction). It eventually went for €39,000 just over 2.5 times the minimum reserve.
Even at this price it was a good deal. The property is sitting on 3/4 an acre of land, fully serviced, with a fully up to date interior. Even if you were able to get the land for free the actual materials that would go into making Lot 42 (we'll strip out labour costs as well) would cost you more than €39,000.
Derek bought the property several years ago for €68k and put a further €20k into it. He was circumspect about taking a haircut after it sold saying that he 'bought it as a holiday home that they didn't use much' and that 'he was going to buy another house instead in Dublin'.
He might have taken a bit of a hit but then again, a lot of people selling through traditional means are taking a hit there too.
Auctions are certainly becoming an alternative means to sell property in the current climate. Several auctioneers had properties go under the hammer on Wednesday with €2.8 million raised from five separate events.
In recent months we have also seen an increase in the number of property auctions around the country in venues such as Galway, Roscommon and Wexford. Indeed, you don’t have to wait long for more homes to go under the hammer.
On the 22nd of this month, Merlin Property will hold their second auction in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Golden Lane in Dublin in conjunction with Murphy Mullan.
The event is a follow-up to their first auction last November, which featured in an RTÉ documentary called Reality Bites. That programme proved arguably more successful than the auction and it shows the appetite for such events that Merlin are reported to be in talks about doing a follow-up documentary for their auction in a few weeks’ time.
With Allsop set to return with another catalogue for their next auction on July 6th, there will be plenty of hammers dropped in the next few months.
With that in mind we’d like to know your thoughts on the process:
[poll id="55"]
[poll id="56"]
[poll id="57"]
[poll id="58"]
