THE PROPERTY price register which was launched on Sunday contains hundreds of errors with some sales appearing more than once and other semi-detached houses on housing estates in Limerick and Carlow listed as selling for millions of euro.
The chief executive of the Property Services Regulatory Authority Tom Lynch has apologised for the errors but insisted they do not cast a cloud on the authenticity of the data. He said the authority had only found about 20 errors in the database so far but analysis by The Irish Times revealed more than 200 mistakes.
Among the errors are the inclusion of a semi-detached house in a modest housing estate in Fedamore, Co Limerick, which the register says sold in 2010 for €125 million. Another house in the same estate sold for just €228,000 the same month.
The register also records a four-bedroom semi in Limerick selling for €18 million in February 2010 while people in a small housing estate in Carlow town may be surprised to learn one of their neighbours sold their house for €17.5 million in December 2010.
About 150 of the 20,000 sales listed in 2010 are duplicates while there are more than 50 such duplicate entries in 2011 and some 30 duplicates in 2012.
There are also errors with addresses – one property in Harold’s Cross, Dublin, is listed as being in Co Kerry while another, in Rathfarnham, Dublin, is listed as being in the same county.
The register lists some 60 properties in Dublin as being sold for less than €30,000 between 2010 and last month. These do not include affordable home sales and other partially sold properties.
A house in a sought-after south Dublin address, Bayswater Terrace, Sandycove, sold for just €7,500 in 2010, according to the database. However, a house on this secluded Georgian Terrace overlooking Dublin Bay is currently listed on a property website for rent at €7,500 per month.
Mr Lynch said the mistakes had arisen because of clerical errors in solicitor practices.
