The price of a good house in Dublin will get you over 120 rolling acres in Co Tipperary, write Property Editor Orna Mulcahy and Alanna Gallagher
Buyers determined to invest their money in a top address this season won't be short of options. While there are more wealthy buyers than ever chasing "destination" houses - notably redbricks in Dublin 4 and 6 - the high prices achieved early in the year for such houses have tempted many owners into the market. With no capital gains tax to pay, selling up the big house can release enough money to trade down gracefully, retire with ease and still have some money left over for the children. With interest rates inching up, many are thinking that now is the time to sell.
Meanwhile, the rich are keen to snap up a home that they can stay in for 20 or 30 years to come. Santa Anna on Ailesbury Road fits the bill. Located near the junction wtih Sydney Parade Avenue, the 1930s five-bedroom house stands on just over one-third of an acre of superb gardnens. It carries an AMV of €7 million prior to auction through Lisney on September 28th.
The 242sq m (2,600sq ft) home is in need of some updating. There are three reception rooms in addition to a kitchen and breakfastroom, walk-in guest cloakroom and pantry. Ample room exists to expand the footprint to include a large kitchen, dining and living area that would be better suited to the open-plan way we live today. In addition, there is a side entrance and garage that could be incorporated into the main body of the house.
Upstairs, two of the five bedrooms span the width of the house and could easily convert to an up-to-the-minute main bedroom with en suite and dressingroom.
The real selling point of this house is not its interior but its west-facing back garden which, at 35 metres (116ft) by 21 metres (69ft), is large enough to stage a five-a-side football game or pitch a marquee for corporate entertaining.
There are mature trees throughout and, while the prodigious lawn needs some attention, its scale will make potential buyers of a certain vintage nostalgic for their own childhoods - homes with gardens of this size are no longer built.
The house's proportions allow for a sympathetic yet stylish update. It would be wise to retain the wonderful Irish oak parquet flooring, as well as the modernist brass door handles featured throughout.
• For a virtual tour of this property click on nicemove.ie
Clonacody House also carries an AMV of €7 million but in this case the eight-bedroom Georgian house comes with 122 acres of prime Tipperary land, numerous outbuildings and a walled garden.
The house, which dates from the 1780s, has been owned by the same family since the 1930s and is in good condition with most of its fine period features intact.
Clonmel agency Sherry Fitz-Gerald O'Dwyer and Walsh will auction the property on October 4th. The estate is in the heart of horse-breeding country, with John Magnier's Coolmore Stud not too far away.
It's an impressive property bound by 1.5kms of granite walls, its acres laid out in farm and parkland dotted by mature timber.
The house stands three-storey over basement with lofty reception rooms at hall level and bedrooms on the two upper floors.There's also considerable storage space in the basement.
Additional buildings include a three-bedroom annex, a converted stables and a gate-lodge.
