€27.6m in sales at auction as post-crash buyers flip investment properties

OVER €27.6m in sales were recorded at Allsop’s latest online auction which took place last Wednesday.

Three properties – an office unit in Sandyford, Dublin 18; a town centre development site in Ashbourne, Co Meath; and a mixed-use Georgian building in Dublin 1 – eclipsed the €1m mark on the day. Meanwhile, a property in Dublin’s Rathgar, which had been purchased by the vendor for €350,000 in 2011, changed hands for €800,000.

These were just some of the highlights from the auction which Allsop director Richard O’Neill says attracted over 3,700 bids from parties based here in Ireland and in locations as far away as China.

Commenting on the day’s results, O’Neill said: “There was a strong presence in the catalogue from private vendors and traders who had purchased properties at the bottom of the market, and are now seeking to benefit from the significant uplift in market activity. This was typified by the sale of 103 A/B Rathgar Road, Dublin 6, which was originally purchased for €350,000 in April 2011, and was successfully sold at auction for €800,000, netting the purchaser an uplift of €450,000 before costs.”

The auction’s highest value commercial lot was an office in Sandyford, Dublin 18 – currently let to online car sales portal Carzone for €116,000 per annum – which had a reserve range of €1.45m to €1.55m and was sold after the auction. Other highlights included a town centre development site in Ashbourne, Co Meath, extending to 1.65 acres, which sold for €1m and a groundfloor bookmakers with a recently-refurbished, three-bedroom apartment overhead in Rathgar, Dublin 6, which sold for €800,000.

The demand for Georgian investment properties in north Dublin resulted in intense bidding wars and high sale prices. Indeed, more than 100 bids were placed on two interconnecting buildings at 12 & 13 Gardiner Place in Dublin 1, comprising office accommodation and two apartments with an annual rent of €56,250, The property finally sold for €1,150,000. Number 17 Gardiner place, a building divided into 13 units with a rent roll of €84,400 per annum, sold for €881,000 while four bidders competed for a mid-terrace house divided into 10 units on North Richmond Street which eventually sold for €645,000.

Residential investment highlights included a portfolio of five two-bedroom apartments on Blackhorse Avenue in Dublin 7. Fully-occupied and generating rent of €77,400 per annum, the portfolio sold for €890,000.

Entries are invited by April 14 for Allsop’s next auction which takes place on May 18.