During the initial three months of 2024, house prices saw a significant increase as the count of properties on sale plunged to the lowest ever, as reported by Daft.ie. The property website in its latest residential market review indicated a revival in house prices with an average rise of 1.8 %, following a drop by 1.3% in the tail end of 2023. The ordinary listed property price on their platform rose to €326,469, marking a surge of 5.8% compared to the previous year and 30% more than prior to the pandemic. The property firm attributed the recent price trend to the pressing shortage of properties, predominantly in the second-hand market following the Central Bank’s mortgage lending rules relaxation. Daft.ie kept track of property availability; the quantity of homes for sale on their site as of the 1st March was less than 10,500, the lowest across the series dating back to January 2007. Furthermore, the current housing availability is a mere 40% of the average pre-pandemic numbers in 2019. Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, reported this slump in housing availability to Daft, emphasizing the intense conditions in the second-hand housing market across the nation because of Covid-19. There’s been a consistent rise in house constructions, but interest rate hikes have impacted the second-hand market’s revival. Lyons suggests that as interest rates peak and then subside, specifically as homeowners shift out of fixed-rate mortgages, we might see some betterment in the second-hand market supply. However, as the availability stands at less than half of pre-Covid-19 levels, it could take a substantial amount of time for second-hand supply to bounce back to normal levels. Lyons also pinpointed the Central Bank’s relaxation of mortgage rules as a catalyst for the recent upturn in prices and acknowledged a trend in the Central Bank’s mortgage rules inadvertently shoving housing demand from pricier areas like Dublin towards other regions, in essence, along the motorway network.
The Daft report revealed an average listing price for a Dublin city property in the initial quarter stood at €437,125, reflecting a 3.2% rise from the previous year. Galway city was next in line, with the average price reaching €378,504, marking a 9.4% increase; followed by Cork city at €347,409, showing a surge of 7.3%; Limerick city at €274,427, registering a 10.3% raise and finally Waterford city at €247,064, spotting a 10.2% uptick.
Moreover, Daft’s study unveiled a term they referred to as “market heat”, indicating the extra amount buyers paid over the asking price. The standard transaction price in the opening quarter of 2024 was detected to be 4% higher than the asking price, a considerable climb from the 1.3% in the equivalent period the year before.