Published on Sun Nov 27 10:23:17 GMT 2011
THE widespread nature and scale of the property crash will be laid bare at a auction in Belfast next week, where dream homes and investment opportunities will be sold at up to 70 per cent less than their previous values.
One property — a four-bedroom north Belfast townhouse which once sold for £350,000 — will have a guide price of just £150,000, when it goes under the hammer at Belfast City Auctions on Tuesday night.
A large holiday home in the popular Downings resort in Donegal, which was once valued at E300,000, is listed at half that — now starting at E150,000.
There are even two licensed public houses up for sale at the auction — The Enterprise Bar in Ballynahinch has a guide price of £237,000, while the Parkview Bar on Belfast’s Ravenhill Road is on offer for £350,000. Each of these pubs are thought to have been worth between £650,000 and £800,000 just a few years ago.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that prices in Northern Ireland have plummeted back seven years and now stand at 2004 levels.
The Halifax quarterly index records prices down 52 per cent from their 2007 peak.
However, with so many properties left sitting on the market, Belfast City Auctions, best-known for selling cars, have joined forces with CPS estate agents to take on the “burgeoning property auction sector”.
“It really is a buyer’s market in these difficult times, and auction houses are almost single-handedly responsible for lifting the sector out of the doom and gloom that has been prevailing,” a spokesperson for the auctioneers said.
“And it’s little wonder, with bargain boltholes up for grabs less than half the price they once were — some an incredible 70 per cent less — it is easy to see why auction sales have never been so popular.
“Such is the appeal and thrill of the auction process, they already have massive interest from right across Ireland and Britain and hundreds are expected to attend — eager bidders can even register and buy online through City Auctions’ state-of-the-art technology.
“First-time buyers, families, investors and business people are waking up to the potential to strike a bargain at auction while the market is how it is at present,” they added.
On Tuesday, at least 30 properties are set to be sold with guide prices starting from as little as £30,000.
Art O’Hagan, MD from City Property Services, described the current housing market as “unprecedented”.
“Auctions are the new barometer for the housing market in Northern Ireland and people feel they can get real value for money in the process.
“It’s win, win for everyone.”
Raymond Hill, from Belfast City Auctions, added: “We believe that there are many property owners out there who have failed to sell their properties via more traditional marketing means.
“Now is the time perhaps to consider the auction as a means of selling in a cost-effective way to a much wider audience.
“We believe that selling property at auction represents the best way forward right now for vendors. If you want to sell quickly and have the money in your bank account we believe this is the most effective solution right now.”
There was further misery for those trapped in negative equity as a result of the boom, when BBC Spotlight quoted an economist saying that prices were unlikely to return to peak levels for decades.
Another economist, Jonathan Davis — one of the few people to have predicted a crash at the peak — attacked those who had promoted high prices.
“I don’t know how those who were pushing property as a good thing to put your money into, even after the crash had started in 2008 and beyond, can sleep at night,” he told the News Letter this week.
More information on all the properties up for auction can be found at www.cps-property.com/property-auctions