When it came to the market at a guide price of €15 million in May of last year, Censure House on Howth’s Ceannchor Road was being linked within weeks with a possible buyer in the form of mixed martial arts (MMA) multimillionaire Conor McGregor. Reports in the media of a potential sale to the so-called “Notorious One” would, however, seem to have been somewhat exaggerated.
Just over 10 months on and having failed to secure a buyer with deep enough pockets, the six-bedroom (14,700sq ft) Dublin mansion and its nine-acre estate is being offered to the market by London-headquartered agent Inhous for a more modest yet still significant €12.5 million. While that’s a chunky 17 per cent price drop for the hugely extended and fully refurbished version of Ceannchor House, the 19th century Regency villa that the late Jennifer Guinness once called home, only time will tell if it’s enough to get McGregor or another potential buyer to engage for the first, or even second, time.
Not that the high-end homes on the Hill of Howth are alone in coming to terms with the current round of what property agents politely refer to as “price discovery”. The short helicopter ride across Dublin Bay to St George’s Avenue in Killiney throws up another potential money-saving opportunity for those in the hunt for a house at the upper end of the city’s residential market.
Having been offered for sale back in February 2021 for €10 million, the wonderfully named Ananda (Sanskrit for “happiness”) is now guiding at €8.95 million through joint agents Vincent Finnegan and Knight Frank, or 11 per cent less than its original asking price.
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While that’s still a pretty big ask in a market where the most valuable deal so far this year is the €6.5 million paid by an Irish family in January for Aclare on Marlborough Road in nearby Glenageary, Ananda is a lot of house. Designed by architect Ross Cahill O’Brien, the 10,000sq ft Bel Air-style residence leaves nothing to the imagination in terms of its attention to detail and the sheer quality of its fitout.
