Two Georgian buildings for sale in Dublin, at €1 million and less, show how the cost of such distinguished properties has fallen recently

SELLING PRICES for Georgian office buildings in Dublin’s central business district have fluctuated over the years in line with the latest trends and the wider fortunes of the property market. For decades they made top prices because of the competition for them between medical and legal practices, professional organisations and ambitious companies looking for prestigious headquarters in Dublin 2.

Over the last 20 years most of the legal firms have relocated to modern office blocks with large floor plates to accommodate extra staff. The majority of the medical practices have also moved on to purpose-built centres or private clinics and hospitals in the suburbs.

A great many of the successful trading companies have also left the Georgian houses and now run their operations from spacious office blocks in the suburbs. A few companies that failed to last the pace are remembered by nameplates still in place outside tall Georgian houses.

During the property boom the largest and best preserved Georgians often made up €1,200 a sq ft (€12,916 a sq m) – working out at between €3.5 million and €5 million per house, depending on the size, condition and availability of car parking at the rear.

Even the smallest of the Georgians were selling for between €2 million and €3 million in 2006 and 2007.

There was one exceptional sale in June 2007, when the Merrion Hotel paid a staggering figure of almost €9 million for the neighbouring Georgian headquarters of the Football Association of Ireland at 80 Merrion Square.

Iain Finnegan of agents Finnegan Menton, who advised the FAI on the disposal of the 430sq m (4,635sq ft) house, described the sale as “the last hurrah. . . before the market slipped”.

Around the same time Lisney secured €6 million for a house on Fitzwilliam Square with a development site at the rear. In recent months, most of the period houses going for sale have been priced between €1 million and €2 million, depending on the condition and whether a mews house is included.

Another indication of how values have fallen comes this week with the announcement by the former Society of Chartered Surveyors that it has set an AMV of €1 million for its Georgian headquarters at 5 Wilton Place in Dublin 2. A second period house coming on the market this week at Pembroke Road has a guide price of €910,000 while one at Northumberland Road in Dublin 4, is selling for €850,000.

Colliers International is handling the disposal of the Wilton Place building which is being sold following the amalgamation of the Society of Charter Surveyors and the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute to form the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland. The new organisation is now based at Merrion Square.

The four-storey over basement mid-terrace Wilton Place house has an overall floor area of 359sq m (3,864sq ft) including a lower ground floor with independent access. The top floor is currently in residential use. The guide price works out at €258 a sq ft (€2,785 a sq m). The society will also consider making the house available to rent at €60,000 a year – or €167 per sq m.

Colliers says the sale presents a “fantastic opportunity for either an investor or an owner-occupier to acquire a prime building right in the city centre”. The agency says the “realistic price” being quoted reflects market conditions.

The Pembroke Road house being launched today through Lisney is slightly smaller, standing three storeys over garden level with a floor area of 221sq m (2,382sq ft).

Here again the agency says that the asking price is a sign “that vendors have become realistic with asking prices”.

Lisney says the building is in good condition and, while it retains some of its period features, it also has modern elements including emergency lighting, Cat 5e cabling, ISDN lines, tea stations, shower facilities and a fire alarm. There are four parking spaces to the rear.

Finnegan Menton is handling the sale of the house on Northumberland Road which extends to 225sq m (2,424sq ft) and includes a 140ft rear garden with potential for a mews building.