Some at the auction of 70 properties were there for the entertainment or just checking the market
"DOES ANYBODY have 350,000?" asked the auctioneer addressing a packed audience at "the first ever giant property auction" at a hotel in Dublin city-centre yesterday.
Apart from the flicking of brochure pages, there was barely a peep out of the 300 people gathered in the function room of the Shelbourne Hotel. We studied our shoes. "Don't be shy, you're all very shy today," said the man with the gavel.
Anyone who turned up to the property sale run by the Real Estate Alliance (REA) expecting a flock of vultures picking over the carcass of the Celtic Tiger would have been disappointed.
With only 16 out of the 70 properties on offer sold, there were clearly some financially solvent buyers in search of bargains, but there seemed to be a suspicious number of sharp suited, pointy stilettoed estate agents about, while others were simply there to assess the state of the property market.
"We came up for the day from Listowel on the free travel, for a day out," said Carmel Fitzgibbon, who was accompanied by her husband Paddy, a "virtually retired" auctioneer. "I am under strict instructions not to raise my hand, there were almost handcuffs involved," he said.
He reckoned the properties in the brochure were overvalued and had still further to fall, "but it will be interesting anyway".
"We are here for the entertainment," he added from his seat near the front where you half expected him to crack open a flask and sandwiches.
Before the sale began, manager Philip Farrell of Brophy Farrell REA in Newbridge, Co Kildare, said the timing had not been right until now to hold a national property auction of the type that's been widely run in the US and the UK over the past decade.
"But now there is a perception that the property market is bottoming out and a sense that people might consider buying," he said. "We are not naive, we know there are serious challenges, issues such as access to finance, but there seems to be a real appetite for it".
Farrell said the guide prices were indicative of current value and that they had turned down properties from owners who were not being realistic about what their property was worth.
The estate agents claimed this first auction of its kind would stimulate growth in the market and declared themselves happy with the outcome despite the fact that so many properties were withdrawn.
"We were delighted," Farrell said. "In light of it being the first national auction of its kind, there was such a large attendance today and such a huge level of interest beforehand."
The next one will be held in Dublin in September.
Clutching glass goblets of water, squinting out over the over bright banqueting hall, the auctioneers, including Farrell, Thomas Potterton of TE Potterton REA in Trim and Michael Boyd of Boyds REA in Kilkenny, tried to entice the punters with properties with guide prices of up to 60 per cent less than the original asking price.
The audience kept their hands down until lot 15, an 18th century Georgian pile on five acres near Gowran in Co Kilkenny, sparked a flurry of interest. Bidding began at €380,000 and flew up to €500,000 at which point the property was sold. Sold! There was loud applause.
The auctioneers rattled through the properties selling five more, including 81 acres of residential farming land in Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, (more applause) which, at €440,000 or €5,600 an acre, represented excellent value.
Other sales included detached homes in Wicklow for €350,000 and €227,000, guided at €385,000 and €245,000 respectively. The clapping continued. Maybe if we clapped hard enough, the entire economy could be saved.
As the morning wore on, the list of withdrawn properties grew, but even for the successful vendors, the sales were bittersweet.
Paula Moriarty was the former owner of Mill House, Co Kilkenny, the first property to sell yesterday and the only one to reach its guide price. Mill House was advertised in The Irish Timesin June 2008 at a guide of €945,000. She bought it in 2002, but couldn't remember what the price was then.
"It didn't matter because I never thought I would be leaving the house, we literally poured everything we had into it."
So why sell now? "Myself and my husband separated, but that's it, it's only a house, a lovely house, you just get on with it," she said.
She was glad a couple who had children had bought the "really, lovely family home".
She looked sad but was "relieved". "Now I can get on with my life. There's been so much dependent on me selling the house, so it's a fresh start for me and my three daughters."