2021 Irish Property Market chat - *mod warnings post 1*

Cyrus

DataDude wrote: »

Interesting for sure, don't have the graph to hand but I do think Ireland had very high property price inflation in 2017 and 2018 from memory? I'd have expected at least a 12.5% increase based on those years alone but I guess even when it does sell it'll be hard to say what they would have gotten for it at the tail end of 2018? The CSO data so far would suggest at least as much, perhaps slightly more.

Not suggesting by any means that now is a terrible time to sell. Just saying the anecdotes on the buying/selling forum of 10-20% jumps from 2019/20 prices across all sales are not supported by the data (not yet anyway, maybe they will soon!).

Interestingly we seem to be doing better (or worse depending on your perspective!) than other countries. Interesting last line from a report produced by a company that sells property!

"Looking ahead, the report suggests that prices may weaken globally, as the impact of the pandemic begins to unwind, and it may depend on the speed with which the vaccine is rolled out and economies reopen."

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/irish-property-price-growth-lags-international-trends-1.4513727

now that you say it you are probably right, if i was selling tomorrow id expect to get more than 12.5% more than the last completed sale here which was more than a year after we bought ours, so on reflection its not as large an uplift as it first seemed to me.

Depends on what it sells for i guess!

DataDude

fliball123 wrote: »

Well its the buyers on there showing their frustration at lack of supply and the way bidding seems to be pushing prices way up. The big difference between now and 2020 was there was twice as much supply on myhome this time last year as there is now thats huge in the context of of the dynamics of supply and demand. Add in 20% less new build commencements from last year and a 3 to maybe 5 month delay in construction this year for new builds. Its not hard to see that supply is a huge sway towards it being a sellers market. There will always be a % of property over priced and it wont sell at that price but proof is in the pudding it will be interesting to see how much prices have gone up in the first quarter of the year. They had been rising for the last 6 months in 2020. A lot of FTB are now active in the second hand market.

It will be very interesting for sure. It does indeed look like things are heading north but the extent of it and duration of it are hard to gauge. I'd be shocked if it in June we're talking about anything close to the 10-20% increases the anecdotes are suggesting but I could be wrong.

On the supply side, there is a short term lack of supply absolutely, how much will come back when restrictions lift will be fascinating. I'm less pessimistic about the extent of this mismatch this year vs last. Completions shocked on the upside in 2020. Noted commencements are down which could affect supply a year from now but hopefully the industry will ramp up if needs be and suspect there will be resources allocated from the commercial/retail sector which is undoubtedly going to be significantly cooler for the coming years.

Looking forward to data on population growth later in the year, but I'd be surprised if 2020 wasn't the best year for Ireland in terms of the net mismatch between population growth (demand) and new houses built (supply) in the last decade.

Just going through a rural property purchase, stumbled on this thread, and thought I would share my experience.

have been looking for a rural cottage for remote working away from Dublin - the stereotypical narrative I suppose of the flight to rural locations due to COVID and flexible working opportunities. Luckily broadband in the property is pretty good. Wanted a cottage in a quiet coastal location, no more than 2.5 hours from Dublin with some character, good aspect, etc, rather than a new build bungalow

(as an aside, what the hell were people thinking with some of these bungalows that have gone up in the last 30 years - no consideration to aspect, light, layout, use of land - just shocking properties in many cases. Structurally sound, maybe, but would be better pulled down and started again!!)

Such properties come up rarely, and I have missed out on two in the last 8 months. Anyway, I just succeeded in having my offer accepted on the third go.

My point is that all of these went for 25-30% above asking after intense bidding wars, with huge jumps in offers during the process. One party increased the offer by 12% of the asking price in one go, obviously trying to kill off the competition (unsuccessfully). I will end up paying 27% above asking. And the place is by no means perfect (though it will be when I am done with it). Sure, the national HPI shows a modest % increase y-o-y, but that completely masks what is an absolute crazy bidding war out there in some sectors and locations. The demand out there in this space just staggered me, and I thought was worthy of posting

DataDude

Deleted User wrote: »

Just going through a rural property purchase, stumbled on this thread, and thought I would share my experience.

have been looking for a rural cottage for remote working away from Dublin - the stereotypical narrative I suppose of the flight to rural locations due to COVID and flexible working opportunities. Luckily broadband in the property is pretty good. Wanted a cottage in a quiet coastal location, no more than 2.5 hours from Dublin with some character, good aspect, etc, rather than a new build bungalow

(as an aside, what the hell were people thinking with some of these bungalows that have gone up in the last 30 years - no consideration to aspect, light, layout, use of land - just shocking properties in many cases. Structurally sound, maybe, but would be better pulled down and started again!!)

Such properties come up rarely, and I have missed out on two in the last 8 months. Anyway, I just succeeded in having my offer accepted on the third go.

My point is that all of these went for 25-30% above asking after intense bidding wars, with huge jumps in offers during the process. One party increased the offer by 12% of the asking price in one go, obviously trying to kill off the competition (unsuccessfully). I will end up paying 27% above asking. And the place is by no means perfect. Sure, the national HPI shows a modest % increase y-o-y, but that completely masks what is an absolute crazy bidding war out there in some sectors and locations. The demand out there in this space just staggered me, and I thought was worthy of posting

I think you are right that the local specifics won't be captured in the data, but for a few years now it's clear that property prices outside Dublin are increasing faster than those in Dublin. It seems inevitable that COVID is only going to widen this gap, and potentially significantly and would expect more and more stories like yours to show up. I know of a person bidding for on several properties for a second home out in the country which they may work from during the summer. Somewhere in the €200-€300k price range which is not a significant amount of money for this individual.

I have heard him say things like "Yeah, it's probably only worth about €200k but sure what's €275k anyway..."

I can see only this getting "worse". Initially it might be a nice release valve for the cities where affordability is an issue currently, but it could indeed create a new problem for rural FTBers if they are competing with Dublin money which is fairly price insensitive in the lower ranges.

fliball123

DataDude wrote: »

It will be very interesting for sure. It does indeed look like things are heading north but the extent of it and duration of it are hard to gauge. I'd be shocked if it in June we're talking about anything close to the 10-20% increases the anecdotes are suggesting but I could be wrong.

On the supply side, there is a short term lack of supply absolutely, how much will come back when restrictions lift will be fascinating. I'm less pessimistic about the extent of this mismatch this year vs last. Completions shocked on the upside in 2020. Noted commencements are down which could affect supply a year from now but hopefully the industry will ramp up if needs be and suspect there will be resources allocated from the commercial/retail sector which is undoubtedly going to be significantly cooler for the coming years.

Looking forward to data on population growth later in the year, but I'd be surprised if 2020 wasn't the best year for Ireland in terms of the net mismatch between population growth (demand) and new houses built (supply) in the last decade.

The only thing about your argument is the term "short term". Remember the world has shut down there is very limited movement between countries. Pre 2020 we were getting a lot people emigrating into Ireland if this returns to being the norm demand is not going anywhere and we will need even more new builds to catch up. Now say your a Brazilian, Chinese or Iraqi (just picking a few of the nationalities I have encountered in Dublin inner city) person looking to move to the western (first) world and your looking for a country of English speaking, forward thinking and with a good reputation and a country that has a lot of opportunity and ease of access for entry. I think Ireland are way up in the charts for people looking to better there situation when looking at Ireland from the outside. Then you will have the high end tech and pharma jobs that will attract talent from across the globe. Then add in how we have just recently cut our time frames for migrants who are supposedly illegal from 8 years to 4 months to get themselves legal. We are going to have a tidal wave of migration inwards when covid is gone. Then we have the flip side if the country goes t1ts up I think everywhere in the planet will be feeling the pain in some shape or form as there has not been one country immune to Covid, so is it better to leave Ireland and its very high very generous benefits or try your hand somewhere else.

DataDude

fliball123 wrote: »

The only thing about your argument is the term "short term". Remember the world has shut down there is very limited movement between countries. Pre 2020 we were getting over a lot people emigrating into Ireland if this returns to being the norm demand is not going anywhere and we will need even more new builds to catch up. Now say your a Brazilian, Chinese or Iraqi (just picking a few of the nationalities I have encountered in Dublin inner city) person looking to move to the western (first) world and your looking for a country of English speaking, forward thinking and with a good reputation and a country that has a lot of opportunity and ease of access for entry. I think Ireland are way up in the charts for people looking to better there situation when looking at Ireland from the outside. Then you will have the high end tech and pharma jobs that will attract talent from across the globe. Then add in how we have just recently cut our time frames for migrants who are supposedly illegal from 8 years to 4 months to get themselves legal. We are going to have a tidal wave of migration inwards when covid is gone. Then we have the flip side if the country goes t1ts up I think everywhere in the planet will be feeling the pain in some shape or form as there has not been one country immune to Covid, so is it better to leave Ireland and its very high very generous benefits or try your hand somewhere else.

Very fair point, if the lower migration is simply just deferred and we then get 3 years worth of migration to Ireland in 2022 then absolutely demand will way outstrip supply when that occurs.

I've absolutely no clue whether that's likely to happen or not!

PropQueries

Deleted User wrote: »

Just going through a rural property purchase, stumbled on this thread, and thought I would share my experience.

have been looking for a rural cottage for remote working away from Dublin - the stereotypical narrative I suppose of the flight to rural locations due to COVID and flexible working opportunities. Luckily broadband in the property is pretty good. Wanted a cottage in a quiet coastal location, no more than 2.5 hours from Dublin with some character, good aspect, etc, rather than a new build bungalow

(as an aside, what the hell were people thinking with some of these bungalows that have gone up in the last 30 years - no consideration to aspect, light, layout, use of land - just shocking properties in many cases. Structurally sound, maybe, but would be better pulled down and started again!!)

Such properties come up rarely, and I have missed out on two in the last 8 months. Anyway, I just succeeded in having my offer accepted on the third go.

My point is that all of these went for 25-30% above asking after intense bidding wars, with huge jumps in offers during the process. One party increased the offer by 12% of the asking price in one go, obviously trying to kill off the competition (unsuccessfully). I will end up paying 27% above asking. And the place is by no means perfect (though it will be when I am done with it). Sure, the national HPI shows a modest % increase y-o-y, but that completely masks what is an absolute crazy bidding war out there in some sectors and locations. The demand out there in this space just staggered me, and I thought was worthy of posting

That's actually quite surprising given that the latest GeoView Residential Buildings report published on the 26th January 2021 reported that there were 92,251 vacant properties in Ireland in Q4 2020.

It also reported that the number of property transactions was down 35,542 in the twelve months to November 2020. It also reports that 16,725 buildings were under construction in December 2020.

Link to 2021 report here: https://www.geodirectory.ie/knowledge-centre/reports-blogs/geoview-residential-buildings-report-q4-2020

DataDude

DataDude wrote: »

I think you are right that the local specifics won't be captured in the data, but for a few years now it's clear that property prices outside Dublin are increasing faster than those in Dublin. It seems inevitable that COVID is only going to widen this gap, and potentially significantly and would expect more and more stories like yours to show up. I know of a person bidding for on several properties for a second home out in the country which they may work from during the summer. Somewhere in the €200-€300k price range which is not a significant amount of money for this individual.

I have heard him say things like "Yeah, it's probably only worth about €200k but sure what's €275k anyway..."

I can see only this getting "worse". Initially it might be a nice release valve for the cities where affordability is an issue currently, but it could indeed create a new problem for rural FTBers if they are competing with Dublin money which is fairly price insensitive in the lower ranges.

I agree with you. I have an bachelor farmer uncle in Westmeath who talks about his friends' children who want to buy, but have no option but to look at small crappy apartments in Mullingar, as the FTB rural property that they would want is so far out of their affordability that its no longer even worth dreaming about (but that was the case before COVID and this additional demand)

I am not sure that the dynamic will release pressure in cities given that for a substantial number of people, the rural property will be in addition to their Dublin one - hence the demand, like you said, in the 200 - 300 (maybe 350) price range, which is affordable for many Dublin professionals as a 2nd home. It might release the pressure on houses in the city, rather than apartments, though, as you're more likely to be able to stick with a small 2 bed apartment in Dublin if you know you've a place out west as well. No need to upgrade to a house in the city.

cnocbui

bubblypop wrote: »

So the location of your first home didn't come into.it at all then?
Ridiculous.
Anyway, location is the first most important factor, other factors then taken into consideration.

The location came third, I didn't say it was irrelevant.

If you have 3 children, your primary consideration is a dwelling that is big enough to house you and them, if not, it ought to be. The location is dictated by your budget, so affordability is the second most important consideration.

This thread has recently been full of links to properties in desirable locations but the discussion is all about condition, internal outdated layouts, kitchens, insulation and the cost of renovation and how those properties are not suitable choices because of thes factors. People are not saying, great location, I'll ring the EA right away.

On the other thread, there are numerous complaints of lack of availability and that all that is available are properties in severe need of renovation, so even though they may be in the right location, again it's practical concerns about the nature and affordability of the property that seem to be the most important criteria.

Actually, I will admit I was wrong initiallly - affordability is the main criteria, as that determines what location you can 'afford' to look at and what 'size and condition of property' you can afford.

If you have 3 kids, and you think you need 4 bedrooms, then that is your no 1 criteria. Your budget determines in what locations you can afford such a thing.

PropQueries

PropQueries wrote: »

That's actually quite surprising given that the latest GeoView Residential Buildings report published on the 26th January 2021 reported that there were 92,251 vacant properties in Ireland in Q4 2020.

It also reported that the number of property transactions was down 35,542 in the twelve months to November 2020. It also reports that 16,725 buildings were under construction in December 2020.

Link to 2021 report here: https://www.geodirectory.ie/knowledge-centre/reports-blogs/geoview-residential-buildings-report-q4-2020

Ive been looking at daft for a year, and there are still some rural bungalows there that have not moved at all. Because basically they are completely awful properties.

I quote from my earlier post: (what the hell were people thinking with some of these bungalows that have gone up in the last 30 years - no consideration to aspect, light, layout, use of land - just shocking properties in many cases. Structurally sound, maybe, but would be better pulled down and started again!!)

Whereas some are subject to an insane level of interest, and come and go within a small number of weeks. When a substantial amount of the purchasing is discretionary (2nd homes for flexible working, or a move out of the city by a family for which it is not urgent) then the money will go after properties that tick the boxes of a flexible worker from the city, and completely ignore the rest of the market.

PropQueries

Deleted User wrote: »

Ive been looking at daft for a year, and there are still some rural bungalows there that have not moved at all. Because basically they are completely awful properties.

Whereas some are subject to an insane level of interest, and come and go within a small number of weeks. When a substantial amount of the purchasing is discretionary (2nd homes for flexible working, or a move out of the city by a family for which it is not urgent) then the money will go after properties that tick the boxes of a flexible worker from the city, and completely ignore the rest of the market.

Entirely possible. But if large future increases in property taxes are signaled in the next budget (especially on second homes), it may give such potential second home buyers pause for thought as there may be a significant cost attached in having a second home for e.g. flexible working etc. in future years IMO

And there is potentially over 90,000 of them to choose from.

Reins

Was chatting to an estate agent yesterday - said there's a lot coming back to them ie sale agreed falling through.

This online bidding is only helping to inflate prices and then highest bidder only used it to get first refusal.

Reins

Reins wrote: »

Was chatting to an estate agent yesterday - said there's a lot coming back to them ie sale agreed falling through.

This online bidding is only helping to inflate prices and then highest bidder only used it to get first refusal.

yeh, my agent told me the same. People are getting caught up in the frenzy and bidding beyond their affordability, then getting turned down by the bank after their offers were accepted. I needed a letter from my bank before the agent would take any offers from me once we were down to the last 3 or 4 interested parties.

Also some falling through as people have gone on furlough and banks have pulled their approval.

cnocbui

Deleted User wrote: »

Just going through a rural property purchase, stumbled on this thread, and thought I would share my experience.

have been looking for a rural cottage for remote working away from Dublin - the stereotypical narrative I suppose of the flight to rural locations due to COVID and flexible working opportunities. Luckily broadband in the property is pretty good. Wanted a cottage in a quiet coastal location, no more than 2.5 hours from Dublin with some character, good aspect, etc, rather than a new build bungalow

(as an aside, what the hell were people thinking with some of these bungalows that have gone up in the last 30 years - no consideration to aspect, light, layout, use of land - just shocking properties in many cases. Structurally sound, maybe, but would be better pulled down and started again!!)

Such properties come up rarely, and I have missed out on two in the last 8 months. Anyway, I just succeeded in having my offer accepted on the third go.

My point is that all of these went for 25-30% above asking after intense bidding wars, with huge jumps in offers during the process. One party increased the offer by 12% of the asking price in one go, obviously trying to kill off the competition (unsuccessfully). I will end up paying 27% above asking. And the place is by no means perfect (though it will be when I am done with it). Sure, the national HPI shows a modest % increase y-o-y, but that completely masks what is an absolute crazy bidding war out there in some sectors and locations. The demand out there in this space just staggered me, and I thought was worthy of posting

Music to my ears, since I am hoping to put a 4 bedroom rural bungalow on the market this year - touch wood.

I suspect you can blame the planning system and it's restrictions for most of the failings in bungalows you mention. People think it's great to remove decision making powers from people who actually own property and leave such things to public servants who don't have to live in, afford, put up with, or sell, the things they are imposing on others.

cnocbui

PropQueries wrote: »

Entirely possible. But if large future increases in property taxes are signaled in the next budget (especially on second homes), it may give such potential second home buyers pause for thought as there may be a significant cost attached in having a second home for e.g. flexible working etc. in future years IMO

And there is potentially over 90,000 of them to choose from.

That's great, we will be back to people pulling slates off the roofs of old buildings as happened in the past. Something about not learning from history and being condemned to repeat it?

Didn't the British impose a window tax on the subjugated irish who couldn't afford to pay so they bricked up all their windows and lived in dark hovels ?

More and higher taxes are the answer to all problems, bring them on, can't wait.

Hubertj

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Just going through a rural property purchase, stumbled on this thread, and thought I would share my experience.

have been looking for a rural cottage for remote working away from Dublin - the stereotypical narrative I suppose of the flight to rural locations due to COVID and flexible working opportunities. Luckily broadband in the property is pretty good. Wanted a cottage in a quiet coastal location, no more than 2.5 hours from Dublin with some character, good aspect, etc, rather than a new build bungalow

(as an aside, what the hell were people thinking with some of these bungalows that have gone up in the last 30 years - no consideration to aspect, light, layout, use of land - just shocking properties in many cases. Structurally sound, maybe, but would be better pulled down and started again!!)

Such properties come up rarely, and I have missed out on two in the last 8 months. Anyway, I just succeeded in having my offer accepted on the third go.

My point is that all of these went for 25-30% above asking after intense bidding wars, with huge jumps in offers during the process. One party increased the offer by 12% of the asking price in one go, obviously trying to kill off the competition (unsuccessfully). I will end up paying 27% above asking. And the place is by no means perfect (though it will be when I am done with it). Sure, the national HPI shows a modest % increase y-o-y, but that completely masks what is an absolute crazy bidding war out there in some sectors and locations. The demand out there in this space just staggered me, and I thought was worthy of posting

Congratulations on your purchase. Great to have this choice and improve work life balance. Are you planning to live there full time or will you also maintain a base in Dublin?

PropQueries

cnocbui wrote: »

That's great, we will be back to people pulling slates off the roofs of old buildings as happened in the past. Something about not learning from history and being condemned to repeat it?

Didn't the British impose a window tax on the subjugated irish who couldn't afford to pay so they bricked up all their windows and lived in dark hovels ?

More and higher taxes are the answer to all problems, bring them on, can't wait.

Well most people don't have second homes and their only assets are their income, home and pension.

It's a way of generating significant revenues without impacting on the majority of the voting public (working class or middle class) and I would be amazed if they haven't already drawn up such a policy that is ready to go and be implemented by the end of this year IMO

Hubertj

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Just going through a rural property purchase, stumbled on this thread, and thought I would share my experience.

have been looking for a rural cottage for remote working away from Dublin - the stereotypical narrative I suppose of the flight to rural locations due to COVID and flexible working opportunities. Luckily broadband in the property is pretty good. Wanted a cottage in a quiet coastal location, no more than 2.5 hours from Dublin with some character, good aspect, etc, rather than a new build bungalow

(as an aside, what the hell were people thinking with some of these bungalows that have gone up in the last 30 years - no consideration to aspect, light, layout, use of land - just shocking properties in many cases. Structurally sound, maybe, but would be better pulled down and started again!!)

Such properties come up rarely, and I have missed out on two in the last 8 months. Anyway, I just succeeded in having my offer accepted on the third go.

My point is that all of these went for 25-30% above asking after intense bidding wars, with huge jumps in offers during the process. One party increased the offer by 12% of the asking price in one go, obviously trying to kill off the competition (unsuccessfully). I will end up paying 27% above asking. And the place is by no means perfect (though it will be when I am done with it). Sure, the national HPI shows a modest % increase y-o-y, but that completely masks what is an absolute crazy bidding war out there in some sectors and locations. The demand out there in this space just staggered me, and I thought was worthy of posting

Congratulations on your purchase. Great to have this choice and improve work life balance. Are you planning to live there full time or will you also maintain a base in Dublin?

Browney7

Reins wrote: »

Was chatting to an estate agent yesterday - said there's a lot coming back to them ie sale agreed falling through.

This online bidding is only helping to inflate prices and then highest bidder only used it to get first refusal.

Is his thesis that people are bidding more than they would if they viewed a property or that people are "viewing" and bidding on more properties? Before, if people were viewing with an intention of bidding they might get to look at 4 or 5 on a Saturday morning whereas now its all done remotely so each buying unit could have bids out everywhere.

Would agree that properties that tick all the boxes are likely to do very well at present

fliball123

PropQueries wrote: »

Well most people don't have second homes and their only assets are their income, home and pension.

It's a way of generating significant revenues without impacting on the majority of the voting public (working class or middle class) and I would be amazed if they haven't already drawn up such a policy that is ready to go and be implemented by the end of this year IMO

What your asking for will further push more power onto REITS and vulture funds and the small landlord will be a thing of the past. Be careful what you wish for

PropQueries

fliball123 wrote: »

What your asking for will further push more power onto REITS and vulture funds and the small landlord will be a thing of the past. Be careful what you wish for

REITs etc. have little to no interest in properties outside prime locations. They're not even interested in second-hand houses in prime locations.

They're mostly interested in apartments as they're easy to manage and manipulate for rent increases submitted to the RTB e.g. just keep 3 apartments vacant and continually advertise them at €2,500 a month on Daft.ie and any tenant taking a case to the RTB over "market rents" will automatically lose.

fliball123

PropQueries wrote: »

REITs etc. have little to no interest in properties outside prime locations. They're not even interested in second-hand houses in prime locations.

They're mostly interested in apartments as they're easy to manage and manipulate for rent increases submitted to the RTB e.g. just keep 3 apartments vacant and continually advertise them at €2,500 a month on Daft.ie and any tenant taking a case to the RTB over "market rents" will automatically lose.

Are you sure of that?

PropQueries

fliball123 wrote: »

Are you sure of that?

Near enough yes. Unless you're referring to the Iris Reit's houses in (I think Coolmine was that documentary on RTE a few years back) that they're renting to the state at €2,000 plus a month.

fliball123

PropQueries wrote: »

Near enough yes. Unless you're referring to the Iris Reit's houses in (I think Coolmine was that documentary on RTE a few years back) that they're renting to the state at €2,000 plus a month.

Just wondering where your getting your info from. Like have you evidence that this is the case?

PropQueries

fliball123 wrote: »

Just wondering where your getting your info from. Like have you evidence that this is the case?

I'm fairly sure the vast majority of Iris Reit's properties are apartments?

fliball123

PropQueries wrote: »

I'm fairly sure the vast majority of Iris Reit's properties are apartments?

Once again evidence??

DataDude

fliball123 wrote: »

Once again evidence??

I have no views/interest on this matter, but this is from their website homepage might help to stop the over and back!
https://www.iresreit.ie/

"Irish Residential Properties REIT Plc (I•RES) purchases and accumulates high quality apartment assets to let in the greater Dublin area.

Apartments are let and managed with the goal of providing superior customer service and high quality, safe, secure and comfortable homes for all our tenants."

Summer2020

fliball123 wrote: »

Just wondering where your getting your info from. Like have you evidence that this is the case?

Of course he doesn’t. Like everything he posts it can’t be backed with facts. He’s “fairly sure”. Just like he’s “certain” prices are going to drop 75% by this time next year.

Browney7

fliball123 wrote: »

Once again evidence??

Their annual report might be a good place to look

Reins

Browney7 wrote: »

Is his thesis that people are bidding more than they would if they viewed a property or that people are "viewing" and bidding on more properties? Before, if people were viewing with an intention of bidding they might get to look at 4 or 5 on a Saturday morning whereas now its all done remotely so each buying unit could have bids out everywhere.

Would agree that properties that tick all the boxes are likely to do very well at present

reckons bidding more just so they can be the successful candidate. Then pull out when viewed it in person. Reasons given " A change of heart " or Not the right fit for us "