A bargain

This was once known as the most expensive house in Ireland (per square foot). It was listed at $78 million, but sold at auction for just $20 million. What do you expect with a messy back garden like this?

Property in Dublin had soared to such insane heights on the back of cheap credit and greedy borrowers that it had become more expensive than New York, London and Paris.

After lying empty for the last six years, the auctioneers – Lisney and Savills – have revealed that the 18th century marble fireplaces have been stolen, the floors are bare and, according to Frank McDonald in today’s Irish Times, the garden is “so devoid” of planting that it “looks like a ploughed field”.