Bank seeks €4.25 million for D4 home in embassy belt

There have been few repossessions at the top end of the Dublin market so far, but agents say there are plenty to come

BANK OF Ireland is forcing the sale of a large house in Ballsbridge in the hope of recouping €4.25 million against the former owner’s debts.

The Moorings, 59 Merrion Road is one of two distinctive Tudor-style semi-detached houses with large gardens that overlook the playing fields of Wanderers rugby club to the rear.

It’s a lavishly renovated house that at one stage had been rented to the Chinese embassy at around €10,000 per month.

The six-bedroom house is one of just a handful of homes being sold on the instructions of the banks following the collapse of the property market.

Banks are preoccupied almost exclusively with transferring €80 billion worth of toxic loans into Nama, and they are thought to be trying to avoid repossessions as far as possible.

As transfers to Nama go through, it is expected that the lending institutions will start to look at mortgage losses, which are expected to be the next big wedge of losses on their loan books.

This will clear the way for them to tackle the high level of personal indebtedness that in some cases runs into tens of millions of euros, much of it borrowed for property and investment in shares.

Estate agents expect to see more of these forced sales towards the end of the year.

For now, banks are largely working with borrowers who are being allowed to stay in their homes while the interest charges are rolled up. In other cases, houses are being offered for sale privately, with no advertising or publicity.

On the surface, there appears to be a shortage of good quality family homes on the market in Dublin’s affluent suburbs, but estate agents say they have plenty for sale quietly, where owners either don’t want to be identified or want to demonstrate to their bank that they are at least attempting to sell.

The Moorings has been shown privately to a number of prospective buyers, according to Lisney director David Bewley who is handling the sale.

He says the three-storey house might have been worth around €8 million at the peak of the market in 2006, but that it’s accepted now that house prices have dropped by 50 per cent in the neighbourhood.

He describes the €4.25 million asking price as “reasonable” and says that there are buyers with that kind of money to spend. “The reaction is that it is a very good house. Some people have that kind of money, but they are slower to spend it. Much slower.”

Bewley is hoping that would-be buyers will put a high premium on its Ballsbridge address and the fact that the house is in walk-in condition.

With 440sq m (4,736sq ft) it’s got plenty of space for a large family. There are several reception rooms, including a large oak panelled drawingroom, an equally spacious diningroom, a music room and a family room. At the back of the house is a modern extension given over to a vast kitchen fitted by French specialists Chalon. In addition, there is a marble floored pantry larger than the average kitchen as well as a laundry room and shower.

An impressive staircase leads to the first floor where there are four bedrooms, three of them en suite, along with two dressingrooms and a gym.

The top floor of the house has two further en suite bedrooms as well as a large games room.

There is ample parking in front of the house and electronic gates leading to a further enclosed area of parking and a double garage. The 40-metre back garden has been landscaped for low maintenance, and has a westerly orientation.

The sale is likely to be closely monitored by both the banks and owners in the area who may be under pressure to sell.

On nearby Shrewsbury Road, for instance, there are reports that a number of properties will be coming on the market, or are already being offered for sale, at prices that are a mere fraction of what they would have made three years ago.

Heavily leveraged vendors will want to see these well located houses selling, if only to demonstrate that there is still a market for good homes.