What is being described as a "Celtic Tiger"-style bidding war on a house in Rathmines has seen offers of €530,000 above the asking price.
The three-bed semi-detached house, which is described as being in poor condition and "needing work" began at €685,000, and has since seen this price nearly double, with the most recent offer standing at a whopping €1.25 million.
The astronomical rise came to light as a result of investigative work by Twitter account @crazyhouseprice, who had been monitoring the bidding war over the last number of days.
Surely.... SURELY this cannot be real? This house, which needs a huge amount of work, is now 🚨€530k OVER ASKING 🚨 — Ciarán - Crazy House Prices (@crazyhouseprice) June 23, 2021
We are ruined. This country is in crisis mode now. The absolutely state of this. pic.twitter.com/I2yGcka0og
Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien described the situation as “not sustainable” when speaking to the Dáil on Thursday.
The Minister went on to say "we are in an unusual position where we are coming through post-Covid and are building up capacity in the sector.”
Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan questioned the minister on the issue, asking him what price levels he thought were acceptable.
"These kind of bidding wars create huge anxiety and fear for prospective first-time buyers and haven't been seen since the Celtic Tiger years," TD O'Callaghan said, continuing "We have the second-highest house prices in the Eurozone in Dublin, they're only higher in Luxembourg."
Minister O'Brien said that with the easing of restrictions, these massive price increases would be quelled due to "a more normal supply of properties for sale”.
A bidding war on a house in Rathmines has seen offers of €530,000 above the asking price — Cian O'Callaghan T.D. (@OCallaghanCian) June 24, 2021
House prices are already among the highest in the EU with Dublin second only to Luxembourg
I asked the Minister for Housing what level of house prices does he think is acceptable? pic.twitter.com/IZ70YlY136
Senior reporter with the Business Post, Killian Woods called Dublin's property market is "completely unfair" to owner-occupiers, who are forced to compete against investment funds.
"Rent prices are going up that attracts these funds in to buy, it makes sense to them because they can get higher, higher and higher rent off these properties," he said, continuing, "The funds don't look at a property the way an owner-occupier would."
