Irish property price growth back in single digits for first time in 14 months

Property prices rose by 9.8 per cent in the year to the end of October, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed. This is the first time the growth rate has been in single figures in 14 months.

Outside Dublin, the growth rate remained above the State-wide average, at 11 per cent, while the rate of price growth in the capital was 8.3 per cent.

The median price of a house in the State is now €300,000, with the most expensive residential property in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at a median price of €620,000, while Longford recorded the lowest median price at €148,000.

[ Government schemes to help first-time buyers may be fuelling house prices – OECD ]

“In Dublin, house prices increased by 8.5 per cent and apartment prices were up by 7.6 per cent. The highest house price growth in Dublin was in South Dublin at 10.9 per cent, while Dublin City saw a rise of 7.2 per cent,” said Viacheslav Voronovich, statistician in the CSO’s prices division. “Outside Dublin, house prices were up by 11.3 per cent and apartment prices rose by 7.5 per cent.”

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Outside Dublin, the largest rise was registered in the West of country – Galway, Mayo and Roscommon – where prices rose 16.3 per cent. The lowest rise was seen in the southwest, in Cork and Kerry, where prices were 9.2 per cent higher.

[ Falling real incomes will trigger major slowdown in growth next year, OECD warns ]

October saw a decline of just under 1 per cent in the number of property purchases registered with the Revenue Commissioners, at 4,296 purchases by households at market prices.

Property prices have now increased by 129.5 per cent from the low recorded in early 2013, with Dublin prices more than 133 per cent higher than their February 2012 low and the rest of the State up more than 134 per cent from the 2013 trough. The price of new properties has risen by 93.3 per cent since the 2013 downturn, and second-hand dwellings have risen almost 132 per cent since their 2012 low.

The national index is almost 3 per cent above its highest level at the peak of the property boom in April 2007.

In a note to clients, Dermot O’Leary of stockbroker Goodbody noted that in the three months to October, transactions overall grew by 9 per cent year on year, with new home sales up by 39 per cent and existing home sales up just 1 per cent.

First-time buyers are the fastest growing category (up 31 per cent year to date), but non-households still account for the biggest share (38%) of new home purchases. “This is particularly the case in Dublin, where non-household purchases of new homes has grown to a record 57 per cent of total new home sales over the past twelve months. We do not have enough information at this stage to know what specifically is driving this, but is likely to be a combination of sales to the public sector and to the build-to-rent sector,” Mr O’Leary said.