The two-tiered property market that is developing in the Republic was emphasised for the second time in two days yesterday with Allsop Space reporting keen interest in the properties it was selling in Galway, Cork and Dublin and less interest in those lots outside the State’s main cities.
The latest auction by Allsop Space of “distressed” properties was billed as the largest in the history of the State.
More than 1,000 people had gathered in the Shelbourne Hotel’s main ballroom when the first lot went under the hammer shortly after 9.30am yesterday.
More than 2,000 people passed through the hotel’s doors over the course of the day as 138 lots went up for sale. Of that total, 115 were actually sold, with the value of those sales at €13.7 million.
Roger Whittaker, best known for his 1975 hit The Last Farewell, was saying his final goodbyes to his Irish home, a former convent in Eyrecourt, Co Galway. It was not the most expensive property up for grabs but was the most talked about.
The property comes with a recording studio, a gym and outhouses as well as a two-bedroom guest apartment, and interest was keen.
It sold for €285,000, €10,000 above its minimum reserve, with an online UK bidder securing it.
Georgian house
In Dublin the highlight was a Georgian house at 20 Herbert Street in Dublin 2. It sold for €640,000, €80,000 above the reserve, after heated bidding from both the hotel ballroom floor and online bidders.
A top-floor two-bedroom apartment off Leeson Street, which has a rental income of €15,600, was on the market with a reserve of €190,000 and sold for €300,000.
Munster rugby fans would have had a keen eye on the Munster Rugby Shop on Maylor Street in Cork. It went over the try-line for €20,000 above its reserve of €275,000.
“The level of bidding on properties within the main urban centres was very encouraging,” said Allsop Space director of auctions Robert Hoban.
