Big price cuts generate more buyer interest

LAST WEEK’S Property lead story – featuring houses with price drops of as much as 65 per cent – drew a strong reaction, leading our website’s “most read, most e-mailed”. But do big price cuts attract buyer interest?

Pat Mulleryof Douglas Newman Goodsays there'd been a lot of interest in Jessefield on Palmerston Park in D6, down by 33 per cent to €1.9m: "It's the first time in 12 months I'd have had six or seven people looking to view." Lisneyreport a lot of calls and good viewings of the large Georgian house with a garden and mews at 72 Lwr Baggot St, which had been cut by 51 per cent from €5m to €2.25m between 2006 and now. That said, selling anything in that price range is still difficult, say Stephen Dayof Lisneyand Sherry FitzGerald's Rosie Mulvany. She reports that interest in Fairlawn in Dalkey – cut by 65 per cent to €2.2m since 2007 – has jumped. But "the air north of €2m can be pretty thin". Agents report that whatever action there is right now is for houses from €300,000 to €700,000.