The latest press release issued today by Ireland’s premier rated property website, Daft.ie, finds that nationwide demand for homes is up by 17 per cent year on year while the demand for new homes specifically is up a staggering 114 per cent nationally when comparing May 2023 to the same period in 2022.
Compared to a year previous, demand in Dublin is up 34 per cent, double the growth in demand seen nationally. The demand for New Homes in Dublin has also increased by a whopping 99 per cent.
Eighteen of the 26 counties examined across the country by Daft.ie have seen an increase in demand compared to the same time last year. Similar to the growth seen in demand for homes in Dublin (up 34 per cent ), demand in Meath is up 29 per cent. Limerick and Offaly both saw a demand increase of 26 per cent, while housing demand in Louth is 25 per cent higher than a year ago.
Homes with a listed price of between €400,000 - €600,000 saw the largest rise in demand of 38 per cent. New homes within the price bracket of €400k - €500k saw a staggering surge in demand of 1,783 per cent, it can be assumed this price point has seen the largest increase due to the help-to-buy scheme qualifying criteria whereby the purchase value of the property must be €500k or less. While demand for homes between €200,000 - €400,000 has increased 24 per cent (186 per cent for new homes ), interestingly homes listed between €600k - €800k have also seen a large growth of 20 per cent (251 per cent for new homes ) compared to this time last year. Homes over €800,000 have also seen an increase in demand from buyers but at a much smaller amount of two per cent, while new homes over €800,000 have seen a rise of 160 per cent year on year.
Increases in demand for homes was seen also in Leinster (up 26 per cent ), Connacht-Ulster (up 15 per cent ) and Munster (up six per cent ). When we compare these demand increases with the demand for new homes specifically within these provinces we can see Connacht-Ulster saw the largest demand growth for New Homes with 110 per cent, followed by Leinster at 75 per cent and Munster at 69 per cent hike in demand for new homes.
Demand in three of the four cities outside Dublin also saw a heightened level of demand compared to last year - by 26 per cent in Limerick, 13 per cent in Cork and nine per cent in Galway. Similar is said for the demand for new homes in these three cities with Galway showing the highest demand for new homes nationwide at 160 per cent. Limerick and Cork saw similar increases in demand for new homes with Cork experiencing an 88 per cent increase while Limerick is at 84 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Overall, this latest report shows demand for homes nationwide has strengthened year on year. The other side of the equation, however, not covered here is supply, and the supply in the sales market in Ireland over the course of the last 12 months was not one where supply was adequate to meet demand. The Irish housing market is in desperate need of increased supply over years and indeed decades to come.
