GLOBAL bankers, billionaires and IMF officials hoping to gain an insight into the Irish property market might find some enlightenment in their favourite newspaper. The financial world’s most august daily, The Wall Street Journal, currently has 37 Irish residential properties – from Cork to Donegal - listed for sale on its website. The prices are quoted in US dollars – of course.
The top lot – with an asking price of $15.2 million – is Monte Alverno, a Gothic-style mansion in Dalkey. The six-bedroom house on 1.2 acres of grounds - including formal gardens, a swimming pool and tennis court – is described as being “tucked discreetly away just off Sorrento Road” and being “quite possibly one of Dalkey’s best-kept secrets”.
Other Irish houses being pitched at Wall Street tycoons include the 12-bedroom Mallow Castle in Co Cork ($9.2 million); 31 Wellington Place, Ballsbridge ($8.5 million); and Kilteelagh House, a country estate in Nenagh, Co Tipperary ($7.8 million). Bankers hoping to replicate the Manhattan penthouse style might prefer “Ireland’s tallest building”, The Elysian apartment block in Cork City where a three-bedroom, “triplex penthouse” is advertised with an asking price of $2.6 million. Incidentally, Monte Alverno was first offered for sale in April 2007 with a guide price of €25 million. A year later, the price had dropped by €7.7 million to “only” €17.5 million. It is still for sale today through Sherry FitzGerald with a radically revised new price of €11.5 million.
