From boom to boomier... house sales in Dublin topped €7bn in 2017
HOUSE sales in Dublin have now reached a seven-year high, with the value of all residential transactions in the capital worth more than €7bn in 2017.
With nearly 17,000 private homes changing hands in Dublin in the past 12 months – an increase of 1,000 over the previous year – the number and value of multi-million euro homes is also on the rise.
More than 630 houses and single apartments worth in excess of €1m apiece sold in Dublin in 2017, altogether worth more than €1bn – the highest on record since the residential database of sales
‘Like a who’s who of Dublin’s elite’
under the Property Price Register began in 2010.
The number of houses selling for more than €1m in Dublin has risen steadily from 148 in 2010, climbing to 413 in 2014, and tipping some 550 sales in 2016.
Market indicators also suggest that the niche multi-million euro market is only going to grow given the general shortage of homes for sale.
Economist Ronan Lyons of Trinity College told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘With the Brexit effect, the top end of the market is going to grow further. It’s relatively niche, but the rise in million-euro-plus house sales is due to the same element of lack of supply affecting other areas – rising rents and rising house prices,’
The shuffle of mansions in the top echelons of society in 2017 reads like a who’s who of Dublin’s elite movers and shakers; those who have seen their fortunes rise, and others have seen theirs fall.
The most expensive house sold in the country in 2017 was in the headlines for months – and not just because of its seven-figure selling price.
Gorse Hill on the Vico Road in Killiney, south Dublin, sold for €9,500,000 – €1m above its asking price – after the infamous residence was the subject of a High Court dispute. Solicitor and property developer Brian O’Donnell had attempted to stop receivers repossessing his home due to €71m debts.
Aviation mogul Dómhnal Slattery has bought Ouragh, the former family home of bankrupt developer Seán Dunne, once referred to as the Baron of Ballsbridge, and his now-separated wife Gayle Killilea, on Shrewsbury Road, for €5.6m.
The road saw two of the most expensive house sales in the country in 2017.
Fintragh on 11 Shrewsbury Road was bought for €8.45m by packaging millionaire Patrick Doran and wife Karen, who also have a listed address at Woodberry, The Birches, Torquay Road, Foxrock – another former home of Seán Dunne.
Mr Dunne’s former home at Walford, Shrewsbury Road, bought for €58m at the height of the boom, was the most expensive to sell in 2016 at €14.25m.
The first wealth report produced by Daft.ie puts the highest number of property millionaires in the country in the wealthy south Dublin suburbs of Dalkey, followed by Blackrock, and Foxrock, which each count 500 to 600 millionaires. They are followed respectively by Ballsbridge, Ranelagh, Donnybrook, Howth and Sandycove, each amassing 200 to 300 property millionaires.
Outside of Dublin, the most expensive properties to sell in 2017 were Ballymacoll Stud in Co Meath for some €8.15m; Kilbride Hill House in Wicklow for €5,000,000, and Kilcornan, on Limerick’s North Circular Road for €2,300,000.
‘200 to 300 property millionaires’