Going, going, gone to the pub

UP TO 1,000 people are expected to attend tomorrow’s auction of distressed properties in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin when some 80 lots, ranging from a Ballsbridge mews to a collection of cut price flats in Portlaoise, will be offered to the highest bidders.

The majority of properties are being sold by receivers and include homes in Dublin, Wicklow and Galway as well as small commercial buildings and shops. The lowest priced property is a site in Wicklow town with a reserve of €20,000 while the most expensive is the Dublin 4 mews which is estimated at €600,000. The majority of lots are priced between €35,000 and €150,000 and include flats in the Dublin docklands discounted by over 50 per cent and period homes with large gardens in the Dublin suburbs.

The sale is expected to set a new floor for Irish house prices which are widely accepted to have dropped by at least 50 per cent from peak. Tomorrow’s prices may indicate an even steeper fall, as the auctioneers say that the published reserves may be revised downwards before the 12.15pm start of the auction.

The event is being organised by Allsop, a UK auction house that specialises in distress sales, and its Dublin affiliate, Space. According to Space director Stephen McCarthy, interest has been extremely high, leading to some concerns about crowd control. The venue has seating for 350, with standing room for an additional 500.

To ease pressure on the hotel, the entire auction is to be broadcast to an alternative venue - Doheny Nesbitts pub a couple of hundred yards away.

A 30-strong team from Allsop in London will join Space’s 15 employees to help buyers through the process.Those planning to bid will have to produce a cheque on arrival to prove their intentions. However, they are likely vastly outnumbered by curious estate agents and investors, some of whom have been calling the hotel to book seats in advance.