Apartments and swish redbricks on offer in third mass auction

The latest sale of distressed property by Allsop Space takes place in Dublin tomorrow and interest is high, writes EDEL MORGAN

THE RESERVE prices are tantalisingly low but the line-up of property in the third Allsop/Space distressed auction tomorrow at Dublin’s Shelbourne hotel isn’t quite as stellar as for their previous sales.

This time there are fewer headline-grabbing period houses on sought-after Dublin roads and more apartments and commercial buildings – at the last Allsop/Space auction in July two of the biggest sellers were a large period house on Ailesbury Road in Dublin 4 and a redbrick on Iona Road in Glasnevin, Dublin 9 .

“Every auction is different but we do try to balance the types of property,” says Robert Hoban, associate director of Space, who says there are “some nice redbricks in Dublin 6” in the auction.

Of the 74 lots, more than half are in Dublin, with reserves low enough to entice investors out of the woodwork. Space says its online auction catalogue has had over 65,000 hits from prospective buyers in 122 countries, so they are expecting overseas buyers. “There’s been a similar pattern to the previous auctions in terms of the numbers looking at the catalogue but there seem to be more serious buyers this time as opposed to curious onlookers,”says Hoban,

“You can tell from the calls coming in that many of the people already know about the auction process. Around 900 legal packs have been downloaded and there have been 1,500 viewings of the properties.”

Hoban says there are more private than distressed sales this time around. It’s probably no coincidence that Allsop/Space start the catalogue with an attention- grabbing inner-city apartment. Lot 1 is a two-bed apartment on the third floor of Custom House Harbour in the IFSC on Dublin’s north quays with a parking space and a maximum reserve of €90,000. It comes with a sitting tenant and an annual rental income of €11,700.

Lot 4 is also sure to attract attention. A vacant ground floor two-bed apartment in the stylish St Lawrence development on Harbour Road in Howth, it comes with a parking space and has a reserve of €150,000; Lot 2 is a ground floor two-bed unit at Shelbourne Park, South Lotts Road, in Ringsend, Dublin 4 with a reserve of €130,000.

One of the lowest maximum reserves set in the capital is €65,000 for Lot 67, a first floor one-bedroom apartment at Bolton Court, Dublin 1 with a tenant and an annual rent of €8,400.

Not one but two freehold buildings arranged into 14 self-contained apartments and four commercial units on Prussia Street, Stoneybatter, D7 will go under the hammer with maximum reserve of €850,000 as part of Lot 29.

There are some period houses in the mix too. Number 67 Rathgar Road, in Dublin 6 is divided into 10 residential units has a maximum reserve of €330,000 while number 28 St Alphonsus Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 has a reserve of €250,000 and an annual rental income of €48,480 .

Outside Dublin, in Wexford town, two apartment buildings called Tuskar House, on St John’s Gate Street, with six two-bed apartments, have a reserve of €290,000. Nine of the apartments come with tenants.

In Bray, Co Wicklow, Rosslea on Adelaide Road, a freehold mid- terrace period house is internally arranged to provide five self-contained apartments and has a reserve of €375,000.

A two-bed apartment at Pointe Boise in Salthill, Co Galway, with a €9,000-a-year rental income, has a reserve of €90,000. A two-bed, second-floor apartment, 8 Sea Spray Road, Bundoran, Co Donegal, has a reserve of just €20,000 – the lowest reserve of the auction.

Hoban is expecting a similar mix of attendees to previous auctions. “In addition to investors last time around, there were also owner occupiers, some of whom had sold before the downturn and were renting and financially in a position to buy. A number of properties were bought by ex-pats, and by parents buying places for their children at college.”

Auction today in Belfast

Sixty lots of land and property are going under the hammer this evening (Thursday) at Wilson’s Auctions’ in Belfast. Wilson’s say it will be the biggest property auction northern Ireland has seen in recent years: several thousand potential buyers have viewed the online catalogue and interest has been registered by potential buyers across Europe.

The majority of the properties on offer have guide prices from €40,000 to €70,000.

Lot number one, Mouse Cottage, on a third of an acre in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, is for auction with a guide price of €11,440 (£10,000) and received 2,759 hits on property websites Property Pal and Property News within days of the sale being announced.

The lots range from a pristine four-bedroom detached house in a prestigious south Belfast suburb, to holiday homes in Ireland and abroad. A two- bedroom villa in Spain is guided at €108,700 /£95,000, and an apartment in Monaghan at just €22,880 /£20,000.

For more information visit wilsonsauctions.com