Around the Block: Reality bites on the country home front

Time was when who you lived beside could make or break a house sale, not so any more it would appear. Take Emsworth (above), the Gandon-built villa next door to Abbeville in Malahide's Kinsealy, where former taoiseach Charles J Haughey lived for much of his life.

The five-bed, on 17 acres and described as the only Gandon building that remains intact, came on the market in September 2012 through O’Farrell Cleere asking a whopping €4.5 million.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Abbeville, also built by Gandon, on 250 acres was on the market for €5.5 million after a couple of price drops of its own. (It sold in November last for about €5.2 million.) This week, agents Ganly Walters announced Emsworth’s auction on March 14th with a guide price of €1.45 million. That’s a 67 per cent drop from the original asking price. The home of tax consultant Noel Corcoran, Emsworth has an underground tunnel that is said to link directly with Abbeville. Maybe it’s a historic link too far for some.

Another country house registered a substantial price drop of its own this week when Deerpark, a newly-built 994sq m (10,700sq ft) house in Kilkerly outside Dundalk dropped 42 per cent from €1.65 million to €950,000. Built by Tia and Peter McCaughey of McCaughey Developments, the vast interior is state-of-the-art but the grounds are unfinished.

Still, discounts of this scale will surely attract the notice of buyers with deep pockets.