The consensus among the auctioneers The Galway Advertiser spoke to over recent weeks was that 2022 was a very strong year for residential property sales, and the market would remain robust in 2023, if not quite reaching the growth levels of 2022.
As Tony Kavanagh outlined, just over 1,320 housing units were completed in Galway city and county in 2022. The average value of second-hand homes rose by 7.3% in Galway in 2022, compared to 8.4% in 2021, and 5.7% for the country as a whole in 2022.
Tony expects prices in 2023 in Galway to increase by the order of 3-5%. Martin O’Connor described 2022 as an 'exceptional year’. Some properties exceeded their asking price by over 20% as demand outstripped supply in the Moycullen-Oughterard area, and along the Spiddal-Inverin-Carraroe coast.
Martin says the market remains strong and he believes 2023 will be similar to 2022, as there remains low availability of property for sale. 2023 has started very robustly according to Liam Farragher as the new mortgage lending limits of four times salary, which came into effect in January, have led to a brisk start to the year. February 2023 was a particularly busy month for house sales.
Liam sees this situation continue in 2023, as though there is a lot of stock coming on stream in the first half of the year which are ex-rental properties, he expects a shortage of good homes in the second half of the year, as this supply dries up.
Maureen McKeown says 2022 started quietly, but picked up significantly during the year, and she sees this situation continue into 2023, with maybe a slowdown in the last quarter of 2023. Colm Ruane shares the general view of a continuing robust market. 'Property priced right and in good condition will sell easily’, according to Colm.
Olivia Lynch says there were concerns that the property market would crash after Covid-19, but, in fact, the opposite happened. There was a continuing demand for properties in the Galway area, in spite of the increases in mortgage rates, and Olivia hopes the supply side will prove strong enough to keep prices in check.Colm O’Donnellan has seen the market perform extremely well in 2022.
He expects this situation to continue into 2023 with prices increasing by up to 5% this year. Martin Gohery says 2022 saw the strongest sales in the last 7 years, and he expects this situation to continue into 2023, as demand continues to outstrip supply. John Dolan says 2022 was a very good year for sales, and he sees this situation continuing throughout 2023.
John Joyce says he sees more buyers from Galway city and the trade up market to detached private residences is very strong in some north Galway villages, such as Corofin, Abbeyknockmoy, Belclare, Moylough, Milltown and Dunmore.
With the very limited amount of new homes being built, John sees this situation continuing in 2023. — This supplement contains information based on reports from the CSO, the Property Price Register and the Citizens Information Centre.
