Over the previous 12 months leading up to January’s end, national property prices noted a surge of more than 5 per cent. As per the Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) most recent residential property price index, the annual increase in January amounted to 5.4 per cent. This represents the fifth consecutive month of growing headline inflation within the property sector.
Property prices in Dublin saw yearly growth of 4.5 per cent, while regions outside the capital recorded a 6.1 per cent increase. After steep deceleration in the property market last year as a result of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) sequential increase in interest rates, buyers faced enhanced borrowing costs.
However, a revival in property prices is on the horizon in light of prospective reductions in ECB rates later this year. In addition, government schemes aimed at improving affordability have stimulated activity, particularly among first-time buyers.
According to the most recent data, there was a 0.7 per cent month-on-month increase in prices for January. Over the course of 12 months up to January, the median home price was €330,000.
Dublin had the highest median price of €445,000, with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown leading at €620,000 and Fingal on the lower end at €410,250 within the city. Outside of Dublin, Wicklow recorded the highest prices (€437,500), followed by Kildare (€395,000), while Leitrim had the lowest at €165,000.
The CSO’s most recent figures divulged that there were 3,621 property purchases at market prices by households logged with Revenue in January. This denotes a 1.5 per cent reduction compared to January of the previous year, and a staggering 28.5 per cent drop from December 2023’s 5,063 purchases. The total transactions value for January amounted to €1.4 billion.
Ian Lawlor of the Lotus Investment Group, a lending firm to developers, stated that the consistent rise in house prices highlights the Irish housing market’s regained vigour and underlines the chronic disharmony between housing supply and demand.
He commented that, despite new data indicating a 15-year high in home construction, seeing a completion of 32,695 units in 2023, we must not allow these impressive figures to overshadow the continuous issues facing the housing industry. Even though these numbers are significant, they shouldn’t be used to conceal the ongoing struggles inherent within the sector.