Talking property

Plenty of trophy homes are quietly on the market, says Isabel Morton

This week, I found myself jumping at the offer of a private guided tour around a selection of large family homes in the more salubrious residential areas of south Co Dublin.

My guide was an estate agent who pointed out a number of properties for sale, which were behind high hedges, monumental granite walls, impervious gates and forests of mature trees. With not a single "For Sale" sign in evidence, it felt vaguely naughty to cross their threshold, as though arriving uninvited to a party.

However, this somewhat clandestine approach to buying and selling special homes is not unusual. Even through the good years, when auction results were off the Richter scale, many preferred to avoid having details and photographs of their private homes published for all to see.

These so-called trophy homes are considered special. All are well located in long-established residential areas, situated close, but not too close, to all amenities and are invariably surrounded by lush gardens or have views overlooking "the bay area".

The great unwashed are never given the opportunity to tramp over the handmade carpets, or ooh-and-ah at the fancy fixtures and fittings. Curious neighbours, who were never invited in for so much as a cup of tea, are still unlikely to get past the doorstep.

And those "professional viewers" who made it their business to peek, pry and snoop around as many properties as possible every Saturday afternoon, are never even going to know what they are missing.

No, the only way to get to see one of these houses is to get your name on a private buyers list.But is there any need for these elitist lists when there is so little happening in the market? Surely sellers would be glad to welcome any potential buyer when things are so tough.

No, it seems. Now more than ever, privacy and discretion are required on the top rung of the property ladder, says my estate agent guide.

No one is completely immune to the recent global economic downturn, not even the super-rich. Their property portfolios will have lost value along with everyone else's never mind what has happened to their stocks and shares.

However, it is as they say, "all relative" and despite the recession, there are still people out there who can comfortably afford to spend some where between €5 million and €15 million on their private homes.

Nor do the vendors appear to be showing any signs of distress, so far. There are no obvious fire sales in evidence. Discounts yes, but perhaps that's just not the way things are done at this level, even if some of the vendors are under financial pressure.

Most of the properties for sale are the private homes of people who are planning to downsize or retire abroad, some are owned by separating couples; only one we viewed was an investment property owned by a developer.

None of the vendors appeared to be in any particular rush to sell, but the prices are on the keen side. Some seemed to be genuine bargains, though whether they will still appear good value in the months to come is debatable.

These well-located properties come in all types and styles - grand detached mansions set amongst extensive grounds, large semis with generous gardens, and elegant five-storey terraced houses with spectacular views. But they are all special for one reason or another, and are coveted by top Irish earners, at least from afar. Even the mega-salaried are cautious these days and don't want to make large financial commitments in uncertain times. Or they are waiting, waiting, waiting for the next round of price cuts.

However, none want their business made public, whether they are the sellers or the buyers.

The days of publicly celebrating your property transaction with bottles of Cristal and hosting a meal for your 200 closest friends in Patrick Guilbaud's are long since over. Discretion is now key to all top-level property transactions.

Vendors do not want their properties becoming "tired" due to sitting on the sales market for too long, nor do they want Joe Public gossiping about why they might be selling their family home.

And none of these few potential purchasers wants to be seen to be buying a bargain basement home as it is a contradiction in terms, no more than they want to be seen buying last season's coat from the sale rail.

Privately, of course, buyers like to get value for money but publicly they prefer to appear as if the price was not the deciding factor. Somehow it would take the gloss off such a purchase.

As I came to the end of my property tour, I couldn't help but think back to the late 1990s when property prices shot up and we were all cursing the fact that we hadn't seen it coming, and that if we had, we'd have bought up all round us during the depressed 1980s when property prices were at rock bottom.

In time, we might look back on 2008 property prices as absolute bargains. But when exactly? Now that's the question.