Gordon Lennox of Jackson-Stops McCabe claims to have some good news for the hard-pressed family housebuyer, in the form of a five-bedroom house in Aughrim, Co Wicklow, that has a guide price of £200,000. Sunnybank, on Rednagh Road, is a pre-war detached house standing on three-quarters of an acre of garden with outbuildings that include a lofted barn.

Set on an elevated site overlooking a fishing lake and wildlife park, the house has been home to the same family for the past 20 years and has been very well maintained. Sunnybank will be auctioned on June 1st, and Jackson-Stops McCabe are handling the sale jointly with Ashford agents A S Delahunt.