Family homes up 11% in a year
That’s according to the REA Average House Price Survey, which concentrates on the up-to-date actual sale price of Ireland’s typical stock home to give a real-time picture of the property market to the close of last week.
The study found that, over the past year, the average house price in the country rose by 11.2% — just under twice the 6% increase registered in the full year to September of 2016.
In Dublin city, the price of the average three-bed semi-detached house has risen by €17,000 (4.1%) to €431,500 in the three months to the end of September. This rise means that prices in the capital city’s postcode have risen 15.6% over the past year.
However, prices in Dublin commuter counties remained relatively static in 2016 and increased by 2.7% in the third quarter. The average price in the commuter belt is now at €229,300.
The commuter flight has once again spread as far as Laois where real estate agents are reporting a €10,000 increase in average prices over the past three months as buyers leave Dublin and Kildare to find cheaper housing options.
The slowest growth nationwide was registered in the main cities outside of Dublin. In Galway, the average price comes in at €255,000 (up 4.1%), while in Limerick it rose just 2.7% to €190,000. In Cork City, prices remained static over the three-month period, and are up just 5.1% on the year.
Smaller rural towns situated outside of Dublin, the commuter belt and the major cities outperformed the national index with prices rising by an average of 2.8% over the quarter to €142,867.
House prices in Longford have risen by 32% in the past year but the county still has the cheapest semi-detached houses in the country, at an average of €90,000, up from €68,000 in September 2016.
Longford, Leitrim (€97,000) and Donegal (€93,750) are the only three counties in Ireland where properties can be still be purchased for a five-figure sum.
Real estate agents have found that Brexit is having an unusual effect on the rental market in West Cork where former sterling buyers are now opting to rent on a long-term basis, creating added pressure on an under-supplied market.
In some parts of Donegal prices have risen by an average of €6,250 since June, fuelled by an acute lack of supply of suitable properties.
The REA pointed out that properties are now selling, on average, four weeks after hitting the market.
Spokesperson Healy Hynes said lack of supply remains the key driver of spiralling house prices all over the country.
“In what is becoming a vicious circle, families looking to trade up are not seeing the larger homes becoming available while empty nesters looking to downsize do not have a ready supply of smaller homes emerging on the market,” he said.
He said it could be 2020 before normal housing supply levels return.
