Just eight houses sold under the hammer in Dublin this year, as the number of houses offered at auction collapsed by 80 per cent. In total,19 properties were offered for sale in the capital’s auction room; in 2006, at the height of the boom, more than 1,000 properties were auctioned in the city.
Estate agents Bennetts held most of this year’s auctions, putting five properties under the hammer. Lisney handled four auctions, as did Sherry FitzGerald, while Colliers Jackson-Stops auctioned three.
Douglas Newman Good, Harper O’Grady and Property Team each held one auction.
Simon Ensor, director of auctions at Sherry FitzGerald, described the number of auctions this year as unprecedented.
‘‘In the past, a quiet year for us would have been one where we [Sherry FitzGerald] held 25 auctions and where overall, there were around 100 across the entire market," he said.
‘‘I’ve been selling houses by auction since the mid-1980s, and I don’t ever remember a year where there were so few sales."
Ensor said he expected few auctions again next year, albeit not as few as this year. ‘‘There could be twice as many auctions in 2010, but even that would still represent a very low number," he said.
Only houses which ‘‘tick all the boxes’’ for buyers, or rundown properties with very competitive asking prices, would be auctioned for the foreseeable future, according to Ensor. ‘‘If a house has everything that a buyer could possibly want - a fantastic location, a beautiful interior, a great garden and off-street parking - then we would still sell it by auction," he said.
Report by Gillian Nelis - Sunday Business Post.
Estate agents Bennetts held most of this year’s auctions, putting five properties under the hammer. Lisney handled four auctions, as did Sherry FitzGerald, while Colliers Jackson-Stops auctioned three.
Douglas Newman Good, Harper O’Grady and Property Team each held one auction.
Simon Ensor, director of auctions at Sherry FitzGerald, described the number of auctions this year as unprecedented.
‘‘In the past, a quiet year for us would have been one where we [Sherry FitzGerald] held 25 auctions and where overall, there were around 100 across the entire market," he said.
‘‘I’ve been selling houses by auction since the mid-1980s, and I don’t ever remember a year where there were so few sales."
Ensor said he expected few auctions again next year, albeit not as few as this year. ‘‘There could be twice as many auctions in 2010, but even that would still represent a very low number," he said.
Only houses which ‘‘tick all the boxes’’ for buyers, or rundown properties with very competitive asking prices, would be auctioned for the foreseeable future, according to Ensor. ‘‘If a house has everything that a buyer could possibly want - a fantastic location, a beautiful interior, a great garden and off-street parking - then we would still sell it by auction," he said.
Report by Gillian Nelis - Sunday Business Post.