A new record price for a Dublin housing site was set at auction yesterday when a house-building firm paid £10.6 million for 4.86 acres alongside Harolds Cross Greyhound Racing Stadium. The Bord na gCon site has full planning permission for 81 large houses.
Felix Whelan of Garland Homes was the successful bidder in a packed auction room attended by most of Dublin's large house-builders. The price equates to almost £131,000 per house site - easily the highest price achieved for housing sites in the city.
Joint agents DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and McPeake Auctioneers originally quoted a guideline price of £7 million for the land but later raised it to £8 million. Ready-to-go housing sites are in particularly short supply in the city.
James Meagher, of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, invited an opening bid of £8 million at yesterday's auction and, when there were no takers, he dropped it to £7 million. He eventually got the bidding under way at £6.5 million and it rose in bids of £500,000 until it reached £9 million. A new bidder pushed it to £9.3 million, which was followed in quick succession by bids of £9.5 and then £10 million.
The final three bids were £100,000 each before it was knocked down to Mr Whelan. The under-bidder was a Cork solicitor representing a five-member consortium. Mr Whelan's company has been building houses mainly in west Dublin.
