Housing prices rose by one percent between June and September and are now 9.1 percent higher than a year ago, according to the latest Daft.ie Sales Report released today by Ireland’s largest property website, Daft.ie
The average price nationwide in the third quarter of 2021 was €287,704, 22 percent below the Celtic Tiger peak but three quarters above its lowest point in 2012.
The national trend hides regional differences. In Dublin, prices rose by 4.9 percent in the year to September, the slowest rate of inflation in a year. In the other major cities, prices rose by similar magnitudes – from 3.1 percent year-on-year in Galway to 8.4 percent in Limerick city.
Outside the main cities, inflation remains significantly higher, with prices rising by an average of 12.9 percent year-on-year. The largest annual increases were in Mayo and Leitrim, where prices are more than 20 percent above their level a year ago.
The total number of properties available to buy on September 1 was just below 12,700, up slightly from levels recorded earlier in the year but one of the lowest figures recorded since the rise of advertising properties for sale online.
Despite an uptick in listings, the total availability of homes for sale nationwide on September 1 was one third lower than the same date a year earlier and a little over half the amount for sale in September 2019.
The stock available for sale in Dublin has fallen by less than the national average, down roughly one quarter year-on-year, while stock for sale in Leinster (outside the capital ) is down by over 40 percent.
“The latest signals from the sales market suggest that, thankfully, the worst of the Covid-19 squeeze has passed. Inflation has eased a bit and there has been a modest improvement in the number of homes available to buy at any one point. Nonetheless, while the Covid-induced spike in market conditions may be passing, the underlying issues remain.
"The stock for sale remains well below pre-Covid-19 levels, while many parts of the country are still seeing prices that are at least 10% higher than a year ago. Additional supply remains key to solving Ireland’s chronic housing shortage and, with the pandemic appearing to be under control, housing remains a critical issue – economically and politically – for policymakers to address. The Government's 'Housing for All' plan contains a welcome boost in social housing activity but construction costs, the key determinant of viability, do not appear to be on policymakers’ radars," Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said.
