1,424 new dwellings in Galway were added to the GeoDirectory database in the twelve months to June 2019, according to the latest GeoView Residential Buildings Report, prepared by EY-DKM Economic Advisory on behalf of GeoDirectory.
Nationally, 24,773 new residential dwellings were added to the GeoDirectory database the past twelve months, representing 1.2% of the total national residential housing stock. The vast majority of these addresses were located in urban centres and on the east coast.
Over 50% of the total new addresses were added in the Greater Dublin Area, with 7,319 (29.5% ) of these found in county Dublin. At the other end of the scale, Leitrim recorded the fewest new addresses, adding only 93. Longford (109 ), Cavan (164 ), Offaly (203 ) and Roscommon (230 ) rounded out the five counties in the country with the fewest new addresses.
The report shows that 792 buildings were under construction in Galway in June 2019. Nationally, 14,107 buildings were classified as under construction last month, a 52.5% increase on the same period last year.
Residential construction activity in Ireland in June 2019 (14,107 ) compares favourably to previous years, with 9,251 residential buildings under construction in 2018, 5,966 in 2017, 4,375 in 2016 and 3,786 in 2015.
Almost a third of buildings under construction were located in Dublin (30.1% ), while the Greater Dublin Area accounted for over half of total construction activity (51.5% ). Construction activity was weakest in Connacht and Ulster, recording only 8.7% and 4.7% of the overall total respectively.
There were 2,488 residential property transactions in Galway, in the twelve months to April 2019, with an average price of €240,715. 11.5% of these were for new properties. Galway city is the town with the highest average property price in the county.
54,709 residential properties were purchased in Ireland in the twelve months to April 2019, of which 21.1% were for new properties. This is 2.1 percentage points higher than the same period last year. In commuter counties such as Meath (40.2% ), Kildare (34.7% ) and Wicklow (25.4% ) the proportion of new properties purchased was much higher than the national average.
Nationally, the average house price in the twelve months to April 2019 was €289,146, an increase of €15,940 or 5.8% on the 2018 figure. Once Dublin is excluded, the average house price is €214,679.
Only three counties recorded prices higher than the national average. These were Dublin (€432,327 ), Wicklow (€341,217 ) and Kildare (€297,356 ), while Meath, Cork, Kilkenny, Galway and Louth were the only other counties to record average prices over €200,000.
The county with the lowest average property price was Longford at €115,330, followed by neighbouring counties Leitrim (€116,468 ) and Donegal (€122,953 ).
The vacancy rate in Galway in June 2019 stood at 6.6%, higher than the national average of 4.8%.
