LAST FRIDAY’S mass auction was a brave attempt to rally the market but we’re not sure if we agree with Real Estate Alliance’s verdict that it could be “deemed a success”. While the ballroom at the Shelbourne Hotel was packed, most people seemed to be there for a look.
Just six of 61 properties sold under the hammer with a further 10 selling either just before, or just after the auction. The total raised was €3.9 million. The lack of interest – and in some cases absence of bids – on the rest wasn’t for the want of consummate salesmanship by auctioneer Thomas Potterton who was making the most of being one of three agents at the helm of a big auction.
When the response to Teach Johnny, a five-bed house in Inisbofin, was lukewarm he tried to tempt buyers with images of illicit romantic weekends. “Nobody will find you there, it’s absolute paradise.”
When the bids were slow on an 81-acre farm in Kinnegad he warned “you’ll be driving by tonight and you’ll be sorry”. On Hutchinson’s Mill in Co Kilkenny where there was tentative interest from a few cagey bidders he quipped “take your time, it’s the bank holiday weekend, we’re here to sell, no rush”.
It sold for €240,000 to a round of applause.
REA does say that it’s “evident that the market does remain challenged” and that the auction was attended by “a sizeable number of market speculators”.
We’re wondering if the problem was the quality of the properties on offer and if what’s needed to bring in real buyers in this market are repossessed properties at rock bottom prices – which is usually the case at auctions of this kind held in the UK and the US.
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