With the autumn auction season due to kick off in earnest next week, estate agents are busy clearing properties that have been on the market over the summer months.

A considerable number of post-auction sales have now been concluded, and although a new era of caution is evident, the main auctioneers expect good, well-located properties to sell in the coming weeks.

The fact that interest rates have now dropped by three-quarters of a percentage point is bound to give a boost to the auction season.

Those with money to spend are also expected to plump for bricks and mortar rather than a stock market that is almost in freefall.

All agents acknowledge that there are serious buyers out there.

However, with the choice more varied than we have seen for many years, buyers are in a strong position to pick and choose.

Properties selling any way briskly are those where the vendors are taking a realistic view on price.

Buyers with cash in hand are in a strong position to negotiate, and anxious vendors have been settling for prices that in some cases are well below the initial guides.

Recent sales include the following: in Ballsbridge, a four-bedroom mews house to the rear of Ailesbury Road, Adare, has been sold for £1.6m (€2.03m) through Finnegan Menton.

Also in Dublin 4, number 40 Lansdowne Road, a large 11-roomed Victorian property has made about £1.2m (€1.52m) through Bennetts.

A large two-bedroom apartment at 122 The Sweepstakes, Ballsbridge, made in excess of £700,000 ( €888,816) through Sherry FitzGerald.

Douglas Newman Good has sold 7 Estate Cottages, Ballsbridge, a four-bedroom end-of-terrace cottage for about £360,000 (€469,803).

Lisney secured in the region of £850,000 (€1.07m) for Beaumont at 26 Claremont Road in Sandymount, a five-bedroom period house.

A two-bedroom apartment at 6 Belfield Court, Stillorgan Road, Dublin 4, was sold for over £210,000 (€266,645) by Ganly Walters.

At Leeson Park, Dublin 6, Number 24, a five-bedroom two-storey over garden level period house sold for around £1.55m (€1.96m) through Lisney.

In Dartry, a six-bedroom semi-detached house, Homestead on Dartry Road, made over £1m (€1.26m) through HOK Residential.

Still in Dartry, a semi-detached period house at 45 St Kevin's Park has been sold by Sherry FitzGerald for in the region of £1m (€1.26m).

In Terenure, Dublin 6W, 14 Whitehall Road, a five-bedroom semi-detached house was withdrawn from auction yesterday at £380,000 and sold later for over £400,000 (€507,895) through Lisney.

Also in Dublin 6, the same agent is seeking £695,000 (€882,467) for 1 Fortfield Terrace, Rathmines, a three-bedroom end-of-terrace house following its withdrawal from auction yesterday.

In Dublin 8, 22 Longwood Avenue, Portobello, a two-storey over garden level three-bedroom house was withdrawn at £325,000 (€412,664).

It is under negotiation through Sherry FitzGerald.

Also off the South Circular Road, 41 Raymond Street, a two-bedroom terraced house was withdrawn by Sherry FitzGerald, which is seeking £330,000 (€419,013).

In earlier sales, a two-storey over garden level house off Rathmines Road, 77 Grove Park, has made about £530,000 (€672,961), according to Sherry FitzGerald.

Jackson-Stops sold 3 Cowper Drive in Dublin 6, a three-bedroom semi-detached house for over £595,000 (€755,494).

In Ranelagh, Sherry FitzGerald has just sold a period house at 29 Killeen Road in the region of £390,000.

In Monkstown, Lisney has just secured over £700,000 for a three-storey over basement house at house in four flats at 18 Vesey Place.

In Dalkey, Lisney sold Ard Na Carriage on The Green Road, a modern semi-detached house, for close to £1m (€1.26m).

Elsewhere in Dalkey, HOK Residential has sold Ardeevin House, Dalkey, a double-fronted detached Victorian house on 0.25 acres for well over £800,000 (€1.01m).

In Glenageary, White Oak at Upper Glenageary Road, a detached redbrick house was sold for around £500,000 (€634,869) through Lisney.

Elsewhere in Glenageary, 4 St Catherines Park made over £420,000 (€533,289), also through Lisney.

A residential investment property currently arranged in 10-11 units at 1-2 Marine Terrace, Dun Laoghaire was sold for over £1m (€1.26m).

Finnegan Menton sold 14 Prince Edward Terrace in Blackrock, a four-bedroom terraced house for about £950,000 (€1.2m).

In Mount Merrion, Lisney sold 51 Callary Road, a four-bedroom semi-detached house, for just under £445,000 (€565,033).

In Kilternan, Kestrel Lodge, a four-bedroom detached house, made about £820,000 (€1.04m) through Lisney.

A 1970s pavilion-style bungalow on over 2.5 acres, Seaview, Templecarrig, Greystones, Co Wicklow, was sold for over £600,000 (€761,842) through Jackson-Stops.

In Glasnevin, Dublin 11, 23 Cremore Road, a three-bedroom semi-detached house, sold for about £370,000 (€469,803) through Douglas Newman Good.

In Co Tipperary, Alma House at Drom, Templemore, a four-bedroom house on 95 acres was withdrawn at £500,000 (€634,869) and is under negotiation through PJ Broderick.

In Co Meath, TE Potterton sold two properties: 11.5 acres at Ardnamullan, Clonard, made £95,000 (€120,625) while near Trim, 11 acres at Kilmurray sold for £70,000 (€88,881).

COMMERCIAL SALES

A former bank premises at O'Connell Square, Ennis, Co Clare, was sold at auction for a strong price of £1.8m (€2.28m) through joint agents Costelloe and Hamilton Osborne King. The property comprises a cut-stone and redbrick three-storey period building with frontage on to both O'Connell Square and Bank Place. The bank will be retaining the two upper floors at a rent of £25,000 (€31,743) per annum for two years.

In Limerick, deCourcy is seeking over £800,000 (€1.01m) for Boru House, a 3,600 sq ft house with a workshop and store on Mulgrave Street, following its withdrawal from auction.

Also in Co Limerick, a 12,000 sq ft warehouse unit at Annacotty Industrial Estate was withdrawn by deCourcy, which is seeking £780,000 (€990,395).

Gunne Commercial withdrew The Ballina Bar in Ballinalack, Co Westmeath, while in Co Louth, the same agent withdrew Windmill House public house on Windmill Road at £1.2m (€1.52m). It is currently under negotiation.

In Co Tipperary, Morrisseys withdrew the Rectory House Hotel in Dundrum, a 10-bedroom hotel with planning permission for 10 holiday homes.

In Finglas, Dublin 11, The Drake Inn public house on Main Street was withdrawn unsold at auction by Morrisseys yesterday. The agent had been quoting between £4.5m and £5m (€5.71m-€6.34m) for the business, which had a net turnover last year of £1.9m (€2.41m)

JP & M Doyle is seeking £550,000 (€698,355) for a 4.27-acre development site on Kiltipper Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24 following its withdrawal from auction.