Looking at a sample of locations in Galway city and county, there has been a significant increase in both the volume of properties sold, and selling prices, in 2023, according to the property price register.
The median house price in Galway city was €312,800 in 2023, and local estate agents expect the upward trend in prices to continue into 2024. Median house prices varied significantly across the county, with the median price for houses in Clifden standing at €245k compared to €238k for Loughrea and €194k for Tuam.
In Athenry, the total volume of sales in 2012 amounted to 51 properties. This figure had grown to 102 properties sold a decade later, in 2022, when the most expensive property sold that year was Martello House, New Line, which sold for €630,000. The volume of sales took another leap forward in 2023, with a total of 147 properties changing hands last year.
The most expensive property sold in the area last year was at Moorpark, and this property sold for €850,000. A measure of the growth of property prices in this increasingly popular commuter town is reflected by the fact that the price of over half of the properties sold in Athenry last year exceeded €300,000, compared to less than one in 10 of the properties sold here in 2017 exceeding this figure.
Ballinasloe property sales showed an increase in volume from 170 sales in 2022 to 197 sales in 2023. The average property price has also increased significantly in recent years, with only two of the 167 houses which sold in 2017 achieving a selling price of over €300,000, compared to 25 of the 197 houses which sold in 2023 exceeding the same figure.
In contrast to many other towns in Galway, Clifden showed a significant drop in sales volumes in 2023 compared to a year earlier, falling from 56 property sales in 2022 to 39 property sales in 2023. The most expensive house sold in Clifden in 2023 was at Ballinaboy, and it sold for the princely sum of €1m.
In Galway city, areas such as Salthill remained very popular with purchasers, with 141 properties sold in 2023 compared to 80 sales in 2022. However, the 2023 figure includes the sale of over 30 apartments in The Baily Point and Cova Da Iria in Upper Salthill combined.
The most expensive house sold in Salthill in 2023 was Charnwood, at 3 Park Avenue Salthill, with a selling price of €1.835m. The most expensive house sold in the area in 2022 was 3 Seamount, which sold for €2.25m. Of the 141 properties which sold in Salthill last year, 54 of them sold for more than €500k.
Renmore saw sales of 57 properties in 2023, compared with a total of 50 sales for 2022. Of the 57 properties sold last year, 14 sold for more than €400k, while the previous year, 18 properties of the 50 were sold for more than €400k.
In Knocknacarra a total of 139 properties sold in 2023, an increase from 103 sales in 2022. 83 of the property sales in 2023, a total of 60 per cent, were sold for over €300k, an increase on the 50 per cent (52 properties ) of the previous year’s sales which exceeded €300k.
There has been a slight slowdown in the volume of property sales throughout Galway, city and county, in the year-to-date compared to 2023. A total of 250 properties were sold in the first two months of 2023 compared to a figure of 234 sales for the first two months of 2024.
