Killiney house sold for £400,000 above pre-auction guide price

A FOUR-BEDROOM, detached house in Killiney, Co Dublin, was sold yesterday at auction for £1,055,000 - £400,000 more than the pre-auction guide price issued by Hamilton Osborne King.

The 1950s house, Gorse Hill, on Vico Road, was declared "on the market" at £810,000. This indicated that the auctioneer was prepared to sell at this price if there were no further bids. But the bidding did not stop and, with four parties chasing the house, the price went up by a further £245,000 before it was sold to a Dublin firm of solicitors, acting for an undisclosed purchaser.

Mr Herbert O'Reilly, who conducted the auction, said although the house was on the small side, its setting on 1.25 acres overlooking the sea was among the best along the east coast.

The sale comes amid considerable controversy over the large discrepancies between the pre-auction guide prices issued by auctioneers and the prices at which vendors will sell at auction.

While auctioneers frequently claim that reserve prices are not set until the day of the auction, most admit that vendors would not sell at the quoted guide price.

Guide prices have traditionally been pitched on the low side to attract more viewers.

In the current buoyant market, house hunters have complained that guide prices in some cases have been 50 per cent below the reserve price.

Because of the continuing criticism, some of the larger agencies, such as Sherry FitzGerald, are now trying to provide more accurate information on likely selling prices. However, with a scarcity of houses at the top end of the Dublin market, agents say it can be difficult to estimate selling prices because of the unpredictable nature of auctions.

Yesterday's price for the Vico Road house is the latest in a series of high-profile sales in the Killiney and Dalkey areas, where values have risen steeply in the past three years.

Last week, a Victorian semi-detached house overlooking the sea at Coliemore Road, Dalkey, sold at auction for £1 million £250,000 more that the guide price announced by Lisney.