Entire Tuam development sells for €200,000

The property market in Tuam appears to be in a Shambles – an entire residential and retail development in the town has sold for around €200,000.

That means that the residential units alone – eleven in total – are worth around €18,000 each.

However, the auctioneer who sold the property believes it is a positive for the town that somebody was even willing to purchase it.

A buyer from the UK purchased The Shambles on Vicar Street – which comprises four retail units, seven four-bed townhouses and four two-bed apartments – for a figure believed to be around €200,000 after an Allsop Space auction in Dublin.

Asking prices for townhouses in the development were around €149,000 in 2010 – that represents a cut in perceived value of almost 90%.

The block failed to reach its reserve price of €200,000 at the auction, but sold afterwards following negotiations.

Last February, Allsop Space put the seven townhouses on the market with a €200,000 price tag, but they remained unsold, and the block with additional retail units was subsequently marketed.

Robert Hoban, Director of Auctions with Allsop Space told the Connacht Tribune the selling price was not necessarily “bargain basement”.

“There was huge interest in it. Buying it is only step one. Investing in it is the next step. I wouldn’t call the selling price ‘bottom of the barrel’ or ‘bargain basement’. It’s the open market value.

“It’s actually a positive sign that somebody wants to take it on, it’s good for the town. The alternative is that it would sit there derelict,” said Mr Hoban.

Meanwhile, a two-bed apartment in Ballinasloe sold for just €40,000 at the auction.

The property at An Aonach on Dunlo Hill had a ‘reserve price not to exceed’ (the highest bid over this figure secures the property) of €25,000. It is currently generating a rent of around €4,500 per annum.

Similar properties were on the market for around €90,000 to €100,000 just two years ago.