Tomorrow in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel, we’ll get to see the lay of the land for residential, commercial and development property in the Republic of Ireland with the latest Allsop Space auction. Allsop Space has blazed a trail in Irish property auctioning since coming on the scene in April 2011 and with 90%-plus success rates with very large lot auctions, is number one by a country mile in the Republic. But across the Border in Northern Ireland, BTW Cairns notched up a 100% perfect performance last week with all 20 of the Lots available sold, with an additional Lot sold before the auction itself. Here are the results:
Overall, there was a 100% success rate and GBP 1.7m (€2.2m) was raised from the sale of 20 Lots. The achieved prices were 36% above the maximum reserves – the “maximum reserve” being the price above which the winning bidder is guaranteed to get the property, a concept introduced by Allsop Space last year. About 500 punters/gawkers attended the auction, and yields achieved were at the high end, between 8-15%. The Northern Irish residential property market has collapsed by more than the Republic’s in real terms, and based on results of this auction, a recovery may be some way off.
Meanwhile final preparations are being made for tomorrow’s Allsop Space auction. Of the 90 Lots in the original catalogue, six have been withdrawn meaning that 84 will come under the hammer tomorrow. There have been 120,000 visits to the online catalogue including 45,000 when the catalogue first went online a month ago. Some 1,500 people have attended viewings and Allsop Space say they have received telephone bidding registration forms with deposit cheques from locations as far afield as Ethiopia, Japan and Australia. Robert Hoban, the Allsop Space Director of Auctions said today “The mix of properties in this particular catalogue seems to have struck a chord as there has been a strong reaction, particularly to the bigger Lots. A number of the properties have already been on the Private Treaty market unsuccessfully, hopefully strengthening the case for auction as the most transparent and popular way for properties to be purchased.” There is a preview of this auction available here, and there will be coverage of the proceedings and results.