According to new reports from the industry, despite a decreasing number of property sales, house prices continue to surge this year. Furthermore, the availability of pre-owned homes has reached an unprecedented low.
GeoDirectory’s recent residential buildings report, made public on Wednesday, highlights that the total transactions of residential properties in the Republic have dropped by 5.8 per cent to 47,686 from the start of this year to May’s end. In contrast, the national average house price saw an upward trend of 4.3 per cent, reaching €381,749 during the identical period. Except for Monaghan, a rise in house prices was universal throughout the Republic’s counties.
The ongoing deadlock in the pre-owned home market is further accentuated by recent figures. The count of pre-owned homes available for sale stood at 12,477 at the end of July, a reduction of over five per cent over a span of twelve months. The pre-owned home stock has witnessed a 50 per cent dip in the last ten years, a considerable contrast to the 24,750 in July 2014.
Joanne Geary, the managing director, spoke out about the analysis, stressing the considerable gap in pre-owned home availability and the requirement to balance supply and demand in the broader housing market.
She expressed significant worry over this pattern, especially considering the Central Statistics Office’s findings. The country’s population has been growing by an average of 65,000 annually since 2016, according to the CSO.
Recent statistics from the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) have highlighted the magnitude of issues faced in Ireland’s housing market this year. Reports reveal a downward shift by 3.1% in the uptake of mover mortgages—loans for existing property owners purchasing a new residence—in the quarter leading to June’s end, compared to the same time frame in the previous year, as disclosed by the industry body.
According to Ms Geary, the current market scenario is challenging, with a significant amount of hesitance amongst homeowners to sell due to the shortage of available properties. This uncertainty is leading to a continuous drop in the overall supply. However, the housing demand continues to be bolstered by a robust economy coupled with relaxed lending norms and demand-driven government initiatives like the First Home Scheme and Help-to-Buy Scheme.
GeoDirectory provided numbers suggesting that the country’s total housing inventory was slightly over 2.15 million at June’s end, with an additional 31,384 new addresses within the 12 months leading to June. This signifies a 17.1% increase in the new addresses added when compared to the same time span last year.
Furthermore, there has been a 4.3% drop in the new buildings under construction over the past year, whilst there was a substantial growth of 86.4% in housing commencements. Dara Keogh, GeoDirectory’s chief executive, notes the size of the increase as key, reflecting an expected solid performance for housing delivery in 2024 with the current volume of under-construction buildings.