Residential property premiums in Westmeath are now 10.8 percent higher than a year previously, the results of a recent report by the online property website, daft.ie, has revealed.
At the conclusion of Q1 in 2021, the average price of a home within the county is now listed at €230,690.
The escalating Westmeath property premium figure mirrors a rise in the national average listed price of housing which has increased by by 7.6 percent in the year to March 2021.
The average price in Q1 2020 was €256k and this has increased to €276k this quarter. This marks the second quarter in a row where prices are nearly eight percent higher than a year previously, roughly twice the rate of inflation seen during 2018 and 2019.
The average sale price nationwide in the first quarter of 2021 was €275,751, up 68 percent from its lowest point in early 2013 but still one quarter below the Celtic Tiger peak.
In Dublin, prices rose by 6.9 percent in the year to March 2021, but the largest increases were seen in the counties surrounding Dublin and in the other cities.
In Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford cities, listed prices were between 11 percent and 12 percent higher in the first quarter of 2021 than a year previously, while in Leinster (outside Dublin ), they were 12.4 percent higher on average.
Conversely, in Munster, Connacht and Ulster, outside the city areas, there was much more muted price growth – with annual increases of close to four percent in Munster and the three Ulster counties and just one percent in Connacht.
The total number of properties available to buy on March 1 was just under 12,000, the lowest figure recorded since the rise of advertising properties for sale online.
This represents a year-on-year fall of 40 percent nationwide, although the stock available for sale in Dublin has fallen by less than the national average, while stock for sale in Leinster (outside the capital ) is down by nearly one half.
“The figures in this latest Daft.ie report confirm that the impact of Covid-19 on the sale market was a massive shock to supply, with seemingly far less impact on demand. The total number of homes listed for sale in the twelve months to February nationwide was just 45,700, down a third on the previous 12-month period.
“This sudden collapse in supply – at a time when demand has held up remarkably well – has converted into sharp upward pressure on prices. It highlights the importance of supply in determining market outcomes and is a reminder that, even when the pandemic subsides, the need for a substantial volume of new homes to be built each year will remain,” Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said.
