Firmly established as one of the leading estate agents in the West of Ireland, O’Donnellan & Joyce Auctioneers Ltd. has for over 40 years been selling more property and guaranteeing better results for buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords than anybody else. As the Galway city based company claimed a prestigious KPMG Property Industry Excellence Award, Building Ireland touched base with founding director Colm O’Donnellan to find out more.
Premier property professionals O’Donnellan & Joyce won big at the 2024 KPMG Property Industry Excellence Awards, taking the coveted ‘Residential Agency Award – Small’ accolade back with them to their Mary Street HQ.
From their well-appointed Galway city base, O’Donnellan & Joyce have been delivering industry-leading residential and commercial property sales since 1982, and managing director Colm O’Donnellan was honoured to see the business’ property industry excellence recognised:
“We were absolutely delighted to win it,” the personable property expert confirmed to Building Ireland. “It’s a nice accolade that recognises all the work we have done in the region over the years, and reflects well on everything we do here, especially our fantastic team of 17 people.”
Matching people with the right properties for 43 years and counting, O’Donnellan & Joyce specialises and excels in all aspects of new home sales, second-hand property sales and commercial properties as well as providing exceptional lettings, property management and valuation services.
“We do a nice mixture of residential and commercial sales and lettings right across the west of Ireland,” Colm confirms. “We’re also renowned for the large auctions we conduct, which could cover anything from ten properties up to 50 properties – a mixture of institutional work and private work.”
O’Donnellan & Joyce has come a long, long way since founders Colm O’Donnellan and Tony Joyce – who retired a few years ago – started out in ’82 with two properties for sale and a landline phone and fax between them. The business has always moved with the times, embracing change and innovation, and is today one of Ireland’s most modern estate agents / auctioneering firms…
“We’re very advanced in terms of technology,” the former continues. “We set up a studio here in conjunction with Brandt Studios to stream all our property auctions live throughout the world. The market has changed a lot after Covid and we now offer live interactive auctions, with bidding accepted online or over the phone. It’s a very convenient and user-friendly experience.
“Technology has changed the face of the property industry big time. Every house we take on board now is videoed internally and that footage can be viewed online. So a potential buyer could be sitting in Dubai or anywhere in the world and be able to view all the details of the property and the floor plan, etc. without having to visit it in person.”
O’Donnellan & Joyce are market leaders in the sale of new houses and to this end are launching two exciting new developments in the early part of 2025. “We’ve been appointed as agents for Cairn Homes and will launch their new Tobair Seamus development on the Letteragh Road in the new year,” reveals Colm. “This development will comprise 142 units in total, a mixture of three- and four-bedroom semi-detached homes alongside duplexes and apartments.
“We’ve also acted extensively for O’Malley Construction down through the years and will be launching a new development of three- and four-bedroom semi-Ds with them in Claregalway.
“We have a very busy new houses division and also deal with a lot of large private house sales in the west of Ireland. We cover the entire west coast for private sales, from Donegal down to Cork, and we auction properties all over the country.”
It’s the worst-kept secret in the industry that there’s a severe need for more new homes to be built in Ireland. What does Colm make of the current landscape with regards to the availability or otherwise of new houses?
“There is a shortage of new homes, and there’s no getting away from that. There will be new opportunities next year – for example, we have those two new developments launching – but it’s still not enough to come close to satisfying demand. Demand is strong and supply is limited, but these things tend to go in cycles, so it will turn around eventually.
“We have been very fortunate at O’Donnellan & Joyce, however, in that we have quite a lot of sales between private sales, new homes, the auctions and also commercial properties. We cover sales, rentals and valuations, whether it be residential or commercial properties, so there is a lot of variety there.”
Galway is a vibrant and progressive area with tremendous natural character and beauty, mixing tradition with the best of modern living and working, making it the ideal place to live or do business. “Galway has always been the jewel in the crown as far as I’m concerned,” Colm agrees. “It’s a university city and people want to live here. It’s a beautiful place to live and it has everything. Once people come here to live or work or study, they don’t want to leave.”
As MD, Colm is joined in the management of O’Donnellan & Joyce by senior partners Niall Browne, Shane McDonagh and Hugh O’Donnellan, his son. His vision for the future of the long-established business? “The company has grown quite rapidly over the past three to four years, so we are optimistic. There’s an upturn on the commercial side of it, where we have hired two additional people. The rental department has increased tenfold.
“These are areas of growth, as is new homes, where four people are allocated to sales. That is going to be our biggest growth area over the next three to four years because there is insatiable demand and also new houses today are of a much higher quality compared to the second-hand market,” the KPMG Property Industry Excellence Award winner concludes.
“The higher quality and energy rating is what young people are looking for, so that’s where most of our future growth is going to be, along with commercial and rental properties.”
O’Donnellan & Joyce Auctioneers Ltd.,
5 Mary Street,
Galway City.
Tel: 091 564 212
Fax: 091 562 681
Email: [email protected]
Web: odj.ie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/odj.auctioneers
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, May 2025, Vol 11 No 5
featured, O’Donnellan & Joyce Auctioneers
