Ireland’s first online-only property auction takes in €6.8m

The first online-only property auction in the history of the State has taken place with more than 45 homes going under the hammer for a total of €6.8 million.

The level of interest in the Allsop Space virtual sale was described as “phenomenal” by its director of auctions Robert Hoban. All of the properties sold were residential buy-to-let apartments and houses and approximately one-third were in Dublin with the rest dotted around the country.

In an industry first, bidders had to provide pre-authorised credit card details allowing the auction house to immediately deduct deposit payments, post sale, thereby legally securing the property on the spot.

The auction house was also granted power of attorney by both buyers and sellers giving them the right to sign contracts on behalf of both parties once the bidding process ended.

The bidding worked much like a high-stake eBay auction although Allsop’s included a “bid extension” facility to avoid last second “sniping” which sees bidders swooping in at the death with a final bid just as the countdown clock hits zero.

The bespoke software meant that the bidding process was extended for one minute each time a bid was made in the final 60 seconds of a bidding period to accommodate counter bids. Mr Hoban said that in most cases, the bid extension was used.

The first home to go under the virtual hammer was a mid-terrace, one-bedroom cottage in Dublin 8 which sold for €156,000, substantially more than the reserve of €90,000. Next up was a four-bed city centre home in Galway which had a reserve of €195,000 but sold for €267,000.

A two-bed town house in Dublin 4’s Donnybrook Court went for €306,000, €6,000 over the reserve. A three-bed semi in Athlone had the lowest minium asking price with the reserve set at just €10,000 although it was ultimately sold for substantially more, eventually going under the hammer for €53,000.

Not all the properties sold, however and the required reserve was not reached on 17 of the 65 homes for sale. Allsop Space are considering holding a second online auction next week focusing exclusively on the properties which did not go under the hammer on this occasion.

To ensure that the entire process was transparent for both buyers and sellers, the company employed Ernst and Young to act as an independent overseer to audit and verify each step of the process.

“Is it the future of auctions? It is not our place to say but I would have to think that online auctions will have a presence in the future,” Mr Hoban said.

He told The Irish Times that in excess of 75 per cent of the 180 registered bidders had come from Ireland. All the bidders and sellers granted Allsop Space the authority to sign contracts on their behalf so the deals could all be done from start to finish without a buyer or a seller having to leave their couch.

Allsop Space has been hosting auctions in the Republic since 2011. Last year, some 1,081 properties sold for a total of €264.5 million by the company.