PROPERTY WATCHERS and movers alike, who are waiting for a deluge of homes to hit the market this year, are likely to be disappointed.

According to a spokesman for the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), 2012 will not see the staging of a much-vaunted public auction of its stock.

“If you’re waiting for a Nama auction in the Shelbourne Hotel, you won’t see one,” he said. However, for those waiting on the sidelines for a bargain, 2012 will see increased activity from this quarter, as Nama encourages developers to offload properties at “realistic prices”.

“You can certainly expect to see more apartments linked to Nama loans at auction in the coming year,” he added.

This could take the form of a developer specific auction, at which 40 or so apartments built by that developer are sold, or they could be rolled into the various auctions that are already taking place. The agency has about 10,000 properties linked to Nama loans, most of which are apartments in urban areas such as Dublin and Cork.