Ballinamore auctioneer celebrates 25 years in business

When Gordon Hughes began his career in the property business 25 years ago, the market was a very different place.

The Ballinamore native has witnessed the property boom of the early 2000s, the crash of 2008 and the recovery of the property market.

Today, he says the major challenge facing Leitrim is not a shortage of demand, but a shortage of housing supply.

Gordon’s business has grown from a single office in Ballinamore to offices in Carrick-on-Shannon and Ratoath in Co Meath.

His interest in property began at an early age.

“As a child, my father used to buy the Irish Independent every day. On Friday, there was a colour property supplement in the paper and I would look at it,” he said.

After completing the Leaving Certificate, Gordon initially began a commerce degree before moving into auctioneering.

“After I did the Leaving Cert, I did started a commerce degree, but pulled out after a year. I then studied auctioneering in GMIT,” he said.

He subsequently worked for a property management company in Dublin before returning to his native Ballinamore.

In 2001, with housebuilding taking off across the country, Gordon saw an opportunity.

“Section 23 (a type of tax incentive on building) was taking off in 2001. There was a huge amount of building in Ballinamore, and no estate agent here,” he said.

“I was young and naive!” he joked.

At that stage, Gordon was primarily selling new houses.

That changed dramatically when the recession hit.

“2008 and 2009 was like falling off a cliff. I was back working on my own. I thought of walking away from the business at times. I was wondering how I would pay the bills,” he said.

“However, I learnt so much in that period, it tells you a lot about yourself,” he added.

The experience also forced him to diversify his business.

“I had been selling new houses until the recession hit. However, I subsequently got into other areas, such as valuations for banks, probate and a lettings division,” he said.

The business subsequently expanded into lettings management and block management.

In 2017, Gordon opened an office in Ratoath, Co Meath, where he says the property market is very different to that in Leitrim.

“I had been looking to get an office in the greater Dublin area. I bought a practice in Ratoath,” he said.

“There are currently 400-500 houses under construction in the Ratoath area. The price of an average three bed semi house in Ratoath is around €500,000. In Co. Leitrim, that house would be for sale for around €220,000,” he said.

Ratoath itself has undergone significant growth.

“I was told that in 1990, Ratoath was roughly the size of Cloone. Now, 14,000 people live in the town,” said Gordon.

The contrast with Leitrim is something Gordon sees regularly through his work. He opened his Carrick-on-Shannon office in 2021 and believes housing supply is a particular issue there.

“Carrick is a brilliant town. But there is an issue around housing. No new greenfield sites have been developed in Carrick,” he said.

Gordon believes measures may be needed to encourage more housebuilding.

“Developers need to be encouraged. Tax breaks may not be popular. A previous tax break scheme was successful, albeit that it was extended twice,” he said.

“Builders carry huge risk. A builder needs to be selling a house at around €340,000,” he added.

He believes the issue is particularly important in rural areas.

“We are very fortunate in Ballinamore, we have everything here. However, the Government needs to step up and see what is happening in rural Ireland,” he said.

“The Government present national figures on housing. However, many of these houses are being built in Dublin and Galway. Nobody is boring into these figures,” he added.

Gordon believes some of the housing created during the property boom helped meet demand over the past decade.

“The ghost estates that weren’t knocked down have dealt with supply in the past 10 or 15 years,” he said.

But he believes that source of housing is now drying up.

He also believes there is potential in vacant and derelict properties.

“A lot of derelict houses are being bought and developed. It would also be good to have people living above shops in towns,” he said. “Incentives have to be given to encourage people to live in towns,” he added.

Despite the current pressures, Gordon does not expect another property crash on the scale of 2008.

“The few people that buy rental properties have cash and the risk to banks is very small,” he said.

His 25 years in the industry have also brought major changes in the way property is bought and sold.

“Property is very highly regulated business now compared to when I started,” he said.

“All bids are digitally recorded and registered. The public can make a complaint about people in the profession. People have lost their licences as a result of complaints,” he added.

He believes the profession has become more professional as a result.

“The days of an auctioneer also being the undertaker or something else is gone now,” he said.

Gordon has also spent a decade as a Fine Gael representative on Leitrim County Council, having entered politics around the same time as establishing his business.

“Politics was a good learning curve for me. I met a lot of people. However, I would not go back to it,” he said.

“With social media, it has changed for politicians. Politicians are now fair game,” he added.

He said his focus remains firmly connected to Ballinamore, despite running businesses in three locations.

“It is very important for me to work from Ballinamore,” he said.

His Ratoath office has also brought him into contact with people who retain connections to Leitrim.

“Many people who moved from this area went along M3, so there are huge Leitrim connections in that area,” he said.

“Leitrim people in that area like dealing with their own. There are always connections when you meet people up there with Leitrim links,” he added.

After 25 years, Gordon says the fundamental issue facing the property market in Leitrim is now straightforward.

“The population of Co. Leitrim has increased. There is a whole new generation born in the 2000’s who are now looking for houses, but there is no supply,” he said.

“The market has second hand houses and this is driving up prices. House prices are going up every year,” he added.