The Irish entity involved in the Allsop Ireland property auction business has bought out the UK real estate agent, rebranded the company, and now plans to focus on online sales both here and in the UK.
In a deal believed to be valued at about €4 million, Space Property Group, which is led by Steve McCarthy, has bought out Allsop's interest in the joint venture and renamed the company BidX1.
Allsop Ireland was set up in 2011 as a partnership between SPG and Allsop. Initially, it held well-publicised physical auctions after the crash of the property market here.
It later developed technology that allowed it to host online auctions. In total, the company has sold €1.1 billion worth of property at auction over the past six years, involving almost 6,000 units.
The company said none of them were repossessed homes.
It achieved sales of more than €30 million from the sale of a mix of residential and commercial properties in July, including €1.5 million for a portfolio of 43 residential units in Portarlington, Co Laois.
Latest accounts for Allsop Space Ltd, which has changed its name to BidX1 Auction Ltd, show its accumulated profits rose to just under €1.1 million at the end of 2015 from just more than €692,000 a year earlier.
The accounts show it had 30 employees, with total staff costs amounting to €1.6 million.
Online auction
BidX1 plans to host what it says will be Europe’s biggest online property auction at the end of September, featuring about 350 residential and commercial properties over two days.
It will also hold two UK online property auctions before the end of 2017.
SPG includes Hunter's Estate Agents and will use its PropTech platform to move the entire business online. Developed in Dublin, SPG says this is the only technology to integrate the entire selling process – from marketing to contracts exchanged – with BidX1 in discussions with Microsoft about joining it as an enterprise partner.
BidX1’s platform currently has a database of 77,000 registered bidders, the majority of them based in Ireland, and its average auction receives 140,000-plus web hits.
Contracts are available in advance for buyers to inspect. During the auction, buyers can watch other bids arrive in real time and deposits are transferred before the auction.
Once an auction is completed, contracts are exchanged immediately. Sales are typically completed 28 days after the auction and sellers can receive their funds within six to eight weeks.
Mr McCarthy said he was “excited” to get the deal with Allsop completed, and to launch the BidX1 business.
“We believe there’s massive potential to grow the business internationally,” he said. “The feedback we’ve got to BidX1 is very positive. We are convinced of the potential to bring BidX1 to markets all around the globe and that this will be a major Irish success story.”
