Clontarf house with potential makes €4.3 million

SalesResults: A large detached house on St Lawrence Road in Clontarf, Dublin 3, was the top selling property at auction yesterday, fetching €4.3 million under the hammer through joint agents Sherry FitzGerald and Paul Grimes Real Estate Alliance.

Three parties chased the property after bidding opened at €3 million. The house stands on around 0.29 acres, with a 200ft back garden offering clear development potential.

Elsewhere the week's auction results were patchy with just over 30 per cent of properties selling either under the hammer or immediately afterwards. In Dublin 4, a four-bedroom detached house at 21 Oaklands Park was sold for €2.15 million through Gunne Residential. A two-bedroom house at 20 Havelock Square fetched a strong price of €1.06 million through Sherry FitzGerald.

Private treaty results are also beginning to trickle through from previous auction properties that failed to sell under the hammer. A house at 50 Waterloo Road, auctioned in June, has been sold by Lisney for around €3.5 million; Lisney has also sold 8 Florence Terrace, Bray, a large period house for around €1.85 million; and 31 Leinster Road, Rathmines, has been sold by Douglas Newman Good for around €1.9 million, having failed to find a buyer at auction earlier this month.

While the fortunes of the Dublin housing market has been the focus of most attention recently, it's worth noting that country properties are bucking the trend and selling either under the hammer or immediately afterwards. This week, most of the country auctions proved successful while private treaty also produced good results, most notably the 241-acre Huma Park Stud at Straffan, Co Kildare, which was sold by estate agent Willie Coonan for €14.8 million. Even land sales were buoyant again despite the poor returns farmers are getting from their holdings. The hobby farmers are still chasing land up and down the country in the firm belief that the fortunes of the farm industry will eventually turn, or that they will get permission from their not-so-friendly local planners for large modern houses.