Property prices in Westmeath have risen by €10,000 during the quarter, according to the latest MyHome.ie Property Price Report.
The report for Q2 2023, in association with Davy, shows that the median asking price for a property in the county is now €225,000. This means prices have also risen by €25,000 compared with this time last year.
Asking prices for a 3-bed semi-detached house in the county rose by €2,500 over the quarter to €210,000. This means that prices in the segment have risen by €10,000 compared to this time last year.
Meanwhile, the asking price for a four-bed semi-detached house in Westmeath fell by €5,050 over the quarter to €259,950. This price is up by €10,000 compared to this time last year.
There were 222 properties for sale in Westmeath at the end of Q2 2023 – an increase of 3% over the quarter.
The average time for a property to go sale agreed in the county after being placed up for sale now stands at just over two months.
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The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, Chief Economist at Davy, said the data suggested that the market was stabilising and may even be generating some momentum.
“Asking prices rose by 4% in Q2 2023, a healthy gain ahead of the busy summer trading season and following three consecutive declines. Housing demand remains resilient. There were €1.27 billion of mortgage approvals in May, a fresh record high. This represents 11.5% volume growth in the numbers of homebuyers with mortgage approval.
“The average approval for house purchase was €298,600 in May, up 3.5% on the year. Despite the European Central Bank’s (ECB ) rate hikes, homebuyers are still taking on more debt, pointing to upward pressure on house prices in H2 2023,” Mr MacCoille stated.
Mr MacCoille added that supply was still an issue but a rising rate of housing starts was encouraging.
“The reality is that Ireland’s housing market remains exceptionally tight. The average time to sale agreed in Q2 2023 was still close to a historic low of 3.3 months. There are currently just 14,000 properties listed for sale on MyHome, still well down from pre-pandemic levels which exceeded 20,000,” he said.
However, the added that “there were 30,900 housing completions in the year to Q1 2023 – well ahead of expectations. Furthermore, there were 13,000 housing starts in the first five months of 2023, up 7.4% on 2022 – this growth looks to entirely reflect apartment construction in Dublin.”
He said that the Irish housing market should prove more resilient than its peers, particularly the UK.
“This is because of the enormous imbalance between supply and demand and stimulus such as the Equity Loan Scheme and the decision to loosen the mortgage lending rules.
“Certainly, a fall in Irish house prices in 2023 is still plausible and cannot be ruled out, given the prospect of further ECB rate hikes, but it now looks less likely. We have left our forecast for asking price inflation unchanged at 1.5% through 2023 but have revised up our forecast for housing completions to 29,500,” he added.
Joanne Geary, Managing Director of MyHome.ie, said that the rate of housing starts was encouraging but cautioned that it would take time for prospective homebuyers to see a notable increase in supply.
“The stabilisation of the market is to be welcomed. We are moving in the right direction, but we are coming from a very low base in terms of supply. The Government’s demand-side initiatives and looser Central Bank lending rules appear to be negating the effects of rising interest rates, but we also need to see available properties on MyHome.ie approach the pre-pandemic figure of 20,000 to make a meaningful difference,” Ms Geary concluded.
