Late TD Eoin Ryan's Dublin 4 home is the most expensive property on the market as the new auction season begins. Orna Mulcahy reports

An estimated €200 million worth of property goes on sale in Dublin today as the autumn selling season gets underway. Government figures suggest that the rate of house price growth is slowing down, but estate agents are confident that there is still very strong demand as they roll out a wide range of auction properties and new homes around Dublin. This is likely to put pressure on prices in the final quarter of the year.

The €200m worth of property includes 300 new homes in developments around the city and a wide selection of second-hand houses, many of them with price tags of €1 million plus.

First-time buyers will find a good choice of new homes priced from around €250,000 upwards, though second-hand houses in this price bracket are increasingly hard to find. Those trading up will find strong competition for houses in the €400,000 to €600,000 bracket which is dominated by double income couples prepared to take out substantial mortgages on family homes.

Those seeking to trade up to the next level will find that €1 million is not what it used to be.

It will now buy you a solid, though not particularly large redbrick in a popular suburb such as Ranelagh or Rathmines.

The most expensive house coming on the market today is 81 Park Avenue in Sandymount, a large five-bedroom detached house standing on almost three-quarters of an acre of garden. Home of the late Dublin TD Eoin Ryan and his family, the house will be auctioned on September 23rd and has a guide price of €6 million.

Park Avenue, which runs from Sydney Parade Avenue into Sandymount village, is a quiet street of distinguished houses set back from the road in their own grounds. A small number have very long gardens and number 81 is one of these, with a superb stretch of ground running right down to the DART line.

It's a handsome double fronted house of around 320 sq m (3,400 sq ft) with a layout that was designed for formal entertaining.

A big bright hallway has its original encaustic tile floor - a rare find in these days of wall-to-wall limestone. There are three reception rooms, including two large interconnecting rooms with ornate plasterwork details and a fine marble fireplace.

The drawingroom to the rear of the house connects with a big conservatory which opens onto the garden. On the other side of the hall is a sittingroom and there is also a big family room that leads to the spacious kitchen with its gas-fired Aga.

While this area of the house has comfort and character, new owners will probably redesign it and extend to create a fashionably vast kitchen. There is further scope to develop rooms leading off the rear hallway that include a utility room and butler's pantry.

A handsome staircase leads to the upper floors where there is a bedroom and bathroom on the first landing, three further bedrooms on the first floor and the fifth bedroom with a bathroom on the top floor. The house has been kept in very good order but is now ready for a makeover, though this is unlikely to deter buyers keen to buy a very sizeable and private chunk of property in the Dublin 4 area.

For a virtual tour of this property, click on nicemove.ie