As the autumn selling season gathers pace, the message is coming loud and clear from buyers: they don't want to buy at auction. Last week, the first busy week of the season, only six of the 27 Dublin properties offered for auction sold under the hammer. In the same week last year, almost 50 per cent of properties were sold in the auction rooms or immediately afterwards. The trend continued this week, when just 25 per cent of the 56 Dublin properties auctioned sold in the room. In the same week last year, just over 50 per cent sold at auction. Estate agents say that most of the withdrawn property is selling after auction, but at a slower pace.
The increasing failure of the auction system after one of the busiest years of the boom is sending ripples of apprehension through the market, as vendors are forced to reassess the value of their property.
After six or seven years of continuous growth, there are definite signs that prices are levelling in at least some sectors of the market. Estate agents are also reporting poor viewings for mid-range and expensive properties, where buyers now have a very wide choice available to them. There is also an overhang of a considerable number of houses which did not sell before the summer break.
This has not happened for several years, and has left most of the big agencies with a fuller list of properties than they would normally have at this time of year. The Dublin market has been a sellers one for a very long time. However, all the indications are that buyers will be in a stronger position to pick and choose what they want. It's a worrying time for vendors who may be planning to put their property on the market in the coming weeks, or early next year.
At the height of the boom, it seemed as though property in every category sold for a premium price. Now, it is clear houses in some brackets are not going to attract the asking prices and are certainly not going to be runaway successes at auction. For this reason, auctioneers are beginning to return to private treaty sales where negotiations can be carried out at a more leisurely pace. Sherry FitzGerald, which holds the most auctions in the Dublin market, is resorting to private treaty to find an owner for a Ranelagh house that would normally be an auction success. It is asking £570,000 in what it is calling a "high-profile" private treaty sale for a redbrick five-bedroom house at 37 Lower Beechwood Avenue. The semi-detached house on one of Ranelagh's most popular roads is slightly larger than average with just under 2,000 sq ft. Refurbished in recent years, the 1905 house retains many of its original features such as fireplaces, ceiling cornices and stained-glass windows.
