Conall MacCoille

If there's a new bid, you're notified of that immediately.

So it takes a lot of the uncertainty out of the process.

And as well as that, I think it guards against the risks that people just waste their time looking at properties they can't ultimately afford.

I think where we need to eventually get to with these online bidding platforms, which are, I think, going to eventually take over, will be increasingly used and be the way that properties are sold.

Ideally, if you see a property, you think, will you be able to afford it or not?

You can see those bids pretty quickly, so it guards against wasting your time.

Look, there's a range of issues.

There's conveyancing, there's the length of the sales process.

One of the sort of issues in the Irish housing market is the lack of chains.

So if you're in the UK, you might see four or five transactions settle on the one day.

And what that means crucially is that you don't need to sell your own home before you buy another.

And I think that's one of the really key issues, which is potentially holding back liquidity in the Irish housing market.

Now, when it comes to asking prices being set low relative to the final transaction price, that's just a practice in the industry.

I'm sure there's estate agents who feel they're doing the best for their clients.

That's the best way to achieve the best price.

I think that...

perceived advantage of setting a low price is probably illusory.

And again, if we bring in more transparency and people can see the bids, I think what they'll find is that actually, wherever you set the asking price, the market price won't be affected.

So there really isn't that much to be gained.

Yeah, time has been wasted.