Final Allsop auction has investor appeal

For its final auction of 2015, 200 residential properties around the country with reserves totalling €28 million will feature at the Allsop auction on Wednesday, December 9th. Over a quarter of the residential properties on offer are located in Dublin. With guide prices ranging from €15,000 for a derelict cottage in Kildare to €1.5 million for 16 townhouses in Sligo, there are some interesting opportunities for those with cash to invest.

7 & 10 Eden Park, Glasthule, South Co Dublin

Lots 82A & 125A, Reserve €740,000 each

Located in the heart of Glasthule, Eden Park is an attractive Victorian terrace. Many of the houses, including Numbers 7 and 10, are split into multiple units. Both properties are very similar, each extending to around 350sqm with 10 units, which are predominantly studio apartments.

Additionally, the two Pre-63 properties generate a rent roll of about €63,000 each per annum, equating to an 8.5 per cent gross yield based on the reserve price. Assuming all units are rented, the average monthly rent is about €525 per unit, which is very low even for studio apartments, and thus there may be potential to increase the rent roll and to bring the gross yield into double digits.

The properties are located beside the Sandycove & Glasthule Dart station, which should help ensure that they remain in demand even if Dublin’s current rental crisis fades.

There is scope to eventually convert the two buildings into single private dwellings, however in the current market the prices achievable would likely not justify conversion given the prohibitive cost of doing so.

Only one property, 4 Eden Park in 2012, has traded hands on the open market at Eden Park in recent years. The 300sqm building, which was laid out as seven separate Pre-63 units, sold for €465,000.

Apts 7, 8, 9 Doreen House, Blackhorse Ave, Dublin 7

Lot 53, Reserve €250,000

In Dublin 7, three apartments are on offer in a single lot at the Doreen House development at 317/319 Blackhorse Avenue.

The stone-clad block comprises nine apartments and these three apartments are located on the first and second floors. When completed in 2001, a standard two-bedroom apartment in the block sought over €240,000 – thus with three apartments on offer here, it is very likely that the bargain-like €250,000 reserve price will be well exceeded.

Allsops advise that one of the units, number 9, requires completion, while number 7 is vacant and Number 8 is rented for a mere €800 per month.

Number 9, a penthouse which occupies the entire top floor, appears to be approximately triple the size of the other apartments in the building, with planning documents suggesting that this apartment alone may extend to 165sqm – however any interested party should verify this.

There are but a handful of two-bedroom apartments for rent in Dublin’s north city for under €1,300 per month and therefore even at that prudently low rate, the two smaller apartments would attract a rent of €15,600/pa each and the exceptionally large penthouse would rent for substantially more. The budgeted annual service charge per apartment is €1,890 for 2016.

23 Sunrise Crescent, Waterford City

Lot 246, Reserve €50,000

Further afield in Waterford, 23 Sunrise Crescent offers investors with smaller budgets the excellent opportunity to acquire a potentially high-yielding property adjacent to Waterford Institute of Technology.

The property is currently set out as four separate residential units – a three-bedroom house and three one-bedroom units to the rear. The main house would most likely appeal to the student rental market, where prices for rooms in the area average about €270 per calendar month. Depending on their size and condition, the separate one-bedroom units may rent for more – about €400 pcm. The property is relatively low-maintenance, with most of the rear garden already constructed upon to provide the separate one-bedroom units.

No interior description is available. However the house is boarded up at present and will likely require updating. In spite of this, it offers solid value and could easily provide a yield in excess of 20 per cent depending on the eventual hammer price and upgrading costs.

Two other houses have sold on Sunrise Crescent in 2015 for €85,000 and €115,000. However these were both more standard family homes with undeveloped back gardens.