Agents prefer private treaty

AroundtheBlock: It's all about next year now as far as estate agents are concerned, and the big issue for them is how to avoid flooding the market with second-hand property too early in the year.

If this happens, it could dampen the market further and kill-off auctions altogether. One thing the top agents agree on is that they are going to be a lot more picky about what they put to auction. In recent years any four-bed semi was worthy of auction, but no more it seems.

The criteria for an auction property is that it has to be in a great location, with lots of space and either in superb condition or in rag order, according to one expert. Anyone with a tired 1950s semi in a mature neighbourhood who hasn't carried out a root-and-branch refurb in recent years is going to be encouraged to go private treaty - a far more leisurely process that could still get the right result. The benefit for the agent is that the sale takes place quietly without any fuss or bother, away from public scrutiny.

What nobody wants to see happening is a run of failed auctions in the spring. With that in mind, agents will be doing a lot of straight talking to their clients about accepting realistic offers for their homes.

Buyers and builders wait on the Budget

Department of Finance civil servants are burning the midnight oil trying to devise a way of dealing with the stamp duty problem in the run up to the December 6th Budget. The issue is how to give something back to hard pressed buyers without allowing the housebuilders to get their mitts on the cash. In the past, concessions on stamp duty invariably were grabbed by builders and vendors, rather than the young buyers who were intended to benefit.

Finance Minister Brian Cowen will also have his work cut out justifying the 9 per cent level of stamp duty, which is out of line with most of Europe, though it may have saved us from a range of property taxes and rates that apply in many other countries.

The builders and other property interests will be anxious to see some concessions to get the market moving again after Christmas. The present cycle of doom has undermined confidence in much of the residential market, not least among builders, many of whom now admit that price increases in 2006 were a mistake. Those who took a realistic view on values early in the year - and released large numbers of apartments at the same prices as 2005 - did relatively well.

Those who looked for higher prices, simply because it worked in previous years, have been left high-and-dry either without buyers or with buyers who are having second thoughts. These buyers are not necessarily going to be swayed by a sweetener in the Budget, though the industry is banking on some changes. Several apartment blocks that should have been occupied in the run up to Christmas are looking distinctly bare, which suggests that sales have been cancelled until further notice. Look out for some quiet bargains in the new year.

Sandyford a stand-out performer for sales

The past 12 months will still be remembered as good ones for the new homes industry with notable successes in launching Adamstown as a new town, and The Coast in Baldoyle on the former racecourse grounds. Still, the outstanding sell of the year was in Sandyford which finally made the breakthrough from being an industrial park to a new neighbourhood with high density apartments being sold in big numbers. And it's only starting.

This week Galway developer John Lally of Lalco, who already has one of the best sites in the area, made a further investment of €65 million when he bought a further four acres from Irish Life. He is shortly to lodge a planning application for a five-star hotel in the first site, as well as a large development of apartments, offices and shops. The second site will be developed in much the same way. Lally is quickly emerging as one of the most dynamic players in the new homes market. He has two other major schemes on the go at the moment - yet another in Sandyford, and the other on the former Jurys hotel site overlooking the Shannon in Limerick (a city that is heaving with brash new apartment buildings).