Market is alive and kicking, says auctioneer MacDonald -Indo

[bedsit]

I thought this was a classic in today’s Irish Independent …

Market is alive and kicking, says auctioneer MacDonald

Hooke & MacDonald have never been shy when it comes to larging up the property market. Their breathless rhapsodies have been a part of the property scene for well over a decade.

The auctioneer’s tennis-playing figurehead, Ken MacDonald, politely took exception to Final Word’s musings a few weeks back that, like it or not, the market was dormant.

Wrong, he said, there’s plenty of action out there in the new homes arena.

OK, we said, give us some figures and we’ll see what we can do.

“Well,” responded Ken, “We’ve sold €100m worth of new homes in the last six weeks and, while that mightn’t have us back at 2006 levels it certainly compares favourably to 2004 and 2005.”

The developments that have chipped in the majority of those sales are the Churchfields development in Ashbourne where 105 homes have been sold and the Parnell Street development Greeg Court – one of the last of the Section 23s – which sold its entire 115 stock over its launch weekend.

Fair enough Ken but what about the commuter belt ?

“Agreed,” he says, “things are slower on that front.”

Right Ken, so to conclude, I don’t want to feel like the cheerleader for a sinking ship.

So can I quote you as saying that come June 2008 we will be in a considerably better place than we are now ?

“Absolutely,” says Ken, “Just come in to our reception area at the moment. It’s like Heuston Station. People are buying properties for the same price as they were 18 months previously and with Dublin rents going up in double digits, there’s real confidence out there.”

Message delivered.

[geckko]

Says it all.

Message delivered.

[whizzbang]

Someone please go to their reception area ans take a photo

[iguana]

Someone please go to their reception area ans take a photo

And then go to Heuston station and take a photo so we can compare.

[geckko]

Someone please go to their reception area ans take a photo

He is being crafty. Doesn’t say which office. Wev site says Lower Baggott St. Is that right?

If so I will get one today.

[brianmac]

I amn’t even going on like that… i should apply for a job in at Hooke and McDonald

[A_Random_Walk]

http://www.johnnyjet.com/images/PicForNewsletterIrelandSept2005DublinGoingtoWexfordStation.JPG

[geckko]

Here we can see the train is about to depart and you don’t want to get left behind off the ladder at the platform after the boat leaves

[geckko]

Is Ken the guy who has his Blackrock house on the market?

[geckko]

Yes he is:

independent.ie/business/will-macdonald-be-lovin-it-135197.htm
2 Newtown Park Ave Blackrock. Still at the pre acution AMV and subsequent listed aksing price of €2.4m - for over 12 months…

Imagine not being able to reduce the price of your house in order to sell it. He has boxed himself in completely.

myhome.ie/search/property.asp?id=CUDUK287375

[BertieBasher]

geckko Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:15 am Post subject:

Is Ken the guy who has his Blackrock house on the market?
Yes he is

Well, there you go. Proof that he believes what he is saying.

[size=75]EDIT: Please do not make derogative remakrs about individual vendors, keep it to the reported facts.[/size]

[DUNSIE2007]

This guy from HOK is picking his words very carefully.

1. He is selling a lot of new homes currently, as Section 23 deadline has just hit. Investors are snapping these up, as it is a lucrative tax break.

2. He compares volume of sales to last summer. I would suggest the downturn had started last summer, and volumes had actually started to drop at that stage. I say volume, because the total value may have remained high, but the number of properties selling was starting to drop

With the end of section 23 mania, there will be a real slump as this was the last artifical prop for the housing market.

[geckko]

More on this.

Has Ken been telling porkies? I must admit, I find it next to impossible to fathom what is going on with new homes because of off plan sales, multiple “launches” extremely long delivery times.

However, look at this excert from the Indo article:

“Well,” responded Ken, “We’ve sold €100m worth of new homes in the last six weeks and, while that mightn’t have us back at 2006 levels it certainly compares favourably to 2004 and 2005.”

The developments that have chipped in the majority of those sales are the Churchfields development in Ashbourne where 105 homes have been sold and the Parnell Street development Greeg Court – one of the last of the Section 23s – which sold its entire 115 stock over its launch weekend.

Now look at this Irish times puff piece:
ireland.com/newspaper/property/2007/0927/1190324821400.html

Co Meath: from €335,000: Twenty-five well-presented homes at a new residential development beside Ashbourne town centre in Co Meath come to the market this week.

Show units will be on display this weekend to coincide with the first phase launch at Churchfields and joint selling agents Hooke & MacDonald and Tormey Lee will be taking bookings on site.

Now it does go on to say the following:

The first phase of this scheme will comprise around 140 homes in total

But it seems to imply that only a maximum of 25 would be sold.

This is the same for the other development he mentions.

Can someone straighten this out.

[brianmac]

they probably launched 25 to work out how the prices would go down with the public and then re print the price list with some increases and some decreases and then banged up the rest. its like dipping your toe in the water to work out if you want to get in or not

[johnny_utah]

Good to see a journalist asking some probing questions in relation to the property market, been a long time coming.
The article really does make Mac look pretty silly in my opinion.

[Green_Bear]

The propertypin gets a mention

http://82.195.157.70/images/celeb_ken.jpg
Here’s a man who can’t be accused of talking down the property market: auctioneer Ken MacDonald (right) of Hooke & MacDonald has had his Blackrock bungalow on the market for 13 months . . . and he hasn’t budged an inch on the 2.4m asking price, so he can’t be accused of adding to the nearly 4% drop in house prices this year.

MacDonald put the 2,100 sq ft home up for auction with Sherry FitzGerald in October 2006 with an AMV of 2.4m, but evidently found no takers at the price. That didn’t stop him listing it for sale by private treaty without a discount, though.

(Thanks to astute commentators at thepropertypin. com and the anonymous blogger at arandomwalk. com for producing this story. )

MacDonald fails to hook a buyer
tribune.ie

[shanegl]

Very astute lads.

[verbatim]

Very good. It was kind of them to acknowledge the sources. They should stick around, plenty more where that came from.

[Open_Window]

Acceptance! Thats it lads we’ve made it to the big time

What is that now stage 3? first ridicule, then denial and finally acceptance? is that how that one goes…

[2Pack]

Its attributed properly, I have no problem with anything I say being quoted as long as the pin is correctly attributed.

Thumbs up to the tribune for having some sense, unlike the ‘paper of record’