O’Donnellan & Joyce has just announced its next auction, which will be held on May 9 in The Harbour Hotel. According to Colm O’Donnellan of O’Donnellan & Joyce the May auction will be the biggest and is anticipated to be the most successful of the year.
Mr O’Donnellan explained that traditionally the peak period for selling houses is April, May, and June as the weather improves and the long bright evenings bring more people out to the housing market to purchase properties.
In the last six months there has been a dramatic change in the housing market with buyers starting to come out in force, and in the last year there has been a 32 per cent increase in properties bought, which has been reported to be the highest percentage increase in the country.
Outside of Dublin, Galway is becoming one of the most active property markets, one of the main reasons according to Colm O’Donnellan is the return of investors and bank finance. Investors are returning to the market, especially for low priced houses in the Galway city area which are producing a yield as Galway city has such a vibrant, young, population, and its massive student population is attractive to investors and guarantees a strong rental income.
The Government has brought in a large incentive for investors in that if they purchase a property in 2014, there is no capital gains tax if they hold on to the property for a period of seven years. This incentive has made it very attractive for investors who look at the property market starting to recover rapidly and prices increasing, that if they hold the property a substantial gain will be made and they will have no capital gains tax for seven years. This, aligned with the poor return on money on deposit in the banks which is at a historical low, makes property, especially in the Galway region, one of the most attractive areas for investors to purchase.
In addition, O’Donnellan & Joyce is seeing a return of the banks to the market and this was witnessed at the last auction in March where Bank of Ireland, AIB, and KBC had stalls outside the auction room offering finance to purchasers, particularly to first time buyers.
O’Donnellan & Joyce auctioneers’ next auction will also be streamed online throughout the world by David Brandt of Solid Media Ltd. At the last auction on March 14 O’Donnellan & Joyce had bidders from Saudi Arabia and Australia bidding on properties and sold more than €3.5 million in residential properties, with properties achieving prices which had not be seen for years. In addition the auction attracted the largest attendance ever at a property auction in the west of Ireland and record numbers of international viewers online.
The great thing about the auction process is that the seller sets a reserve minimum price, and if this reserve is not achieved you do not have to sell.
However, once the reserve price is hit the property is on the market and must be sold, and the auctioneers maximise the price, and when the gavel falls the deal is done and the purchasers must sign the contracts. All sale contracts in O’Donnellan & Joyce auction rooms are not subject to an engineer’s report or loan approval, and all interested buyers must satisfy themselves and organise themselves in relation to all matters prior to bidding.
Each property that is placed for auction with O’Donnellan & Joyce is marketed intensely through the local media and the national and international websites. In addition all properties are open to the general public in open viewing prior to the auction. O’Donnellan & Joyce maximises the marketing of your property and gets as many people through the doors as possible in order to maximise the interest, and therefore to maximise the result.
If you are interested in selling contact O’Donnellan & Joyce for a free appraisal, or just to discuss the forthcoming auction on May 9.
The cut off date for registration for the next auction is April 4 and all details from the O’Donnellan & Joyce auction team, Colm O’Donnellan, Tony Joyce, Anne Harding, and Mary Fahy, phone (091 ) 564212.
