As the autumn auction season hits the midway point, families planning to sell expensive homes are feeling the strain of a sluggish market. The last 12 months has seen anything from 10 to 20 per cent wiped off the value of properties in the £1 million-plus (1.27m-plus) bracket.

This week alone, a newly-built five-bedroom house on Park Avenue, Sandymount, Dublin 4 comes to the market with an asking price of £1.65 million (2.1m). Earlier this year the house had been valued at £2 million (2.54m). (see page 5)

The question is whether the slide will continue into next year. Several vendors with high value homes to sell have been advised to hold off until the spring - traditionally the best time to put them on the market.

However, while properties are routinely failing to sell at auction, agents are still finding buyers for many of them in private negotiations. Few are achieving the premium prices that were available in recent years as buyers take a cooler look at a market with plenty of choice. Guide prices are now being pitched at a realistic level and lengthy negotiations are the order of the day. In one recent case a house that was withdrawn at £1.2 million (1.52m) was subsequently sold at fractionally more.

This is obviously good news for buyers, but in many cases they are not in a position to move until they have sold their own home. This is slowing down the volume of sales.

The one note of optimism is the availability of cheap money, with mortgage rates at the lowest level for four decades. One of the ironies of the present uncertain market is that some of the most expensive new homes ever to be developed in the Dublin suburbs are selling surprisingly well.

A week ago, 10 houses in Castleknock sold from £590,000 to £660,000 (749,145 to 838,027) while on the Howth Road in Clontarf, seven of 13 expensive homes launched last weekend found buyers.