MOST PROPERTY people are tormented by the deals that they didn't do when bargains were to be had. Maybe that time will come again, but meantime it's an entertaining game to look back on the of the sales in recent decades.

North's, who have been in the estate agency business for a staggering 175 years, offers a snapshot on its website of deals gone by.

Back i1963, for instance, number 1 Ailesbury Road changed hands for, wait for it, £9,500. Two years later, number 5 Shrewsbury Road was bought for £16,000.

For those still interested in buying into Grafton Street there were also some great deals there in the same year: number 113 Grafton Street sold for £20,000 but, with inflation on the high side, number 110 Grafton Street was disposed of in 1969 for a huge £66,500.

They got £30,000 for the Dolphin Hotel in Temple Bar, now the children's court, in 1965.

For those after land, you could have got 107 acres in Tallaght for £22,000 in 1962, or 140 acres in Crossmolina for £9,000 in 1966.

Which only goes to show that property is always a good buy, long term.