House-price inflation accelerated again in July with values now rising at an annual rate of almost 10 per cent.
The latest official figures show the average price paid nationally for a home in the 12 months to the end of July was €409,465. This was €31,563 more expensive than the average price paid in the previous 12-month period.
The average price paid for a home in Dublin in 12 months to July was €568,663. This was €27,998 costlier than the average price paid for a property in the capital in the previous 12-month period.
The latest residential property price index, compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), indicates that property prices nationally increased by 9.6 per cent in the 12 months to the end of July, up from a rate of 8.6 per cent previously.
Prices in Dublin rose at an even steeper rate of 10.3 per cent year on year while values outside the capital increased by 9.1 per cent.
July was the 11th consecutive month to see an increase in headline inflation in the State’s property market, a worrying trend for prospective buyers.
With supply pressures remaining and interest rates expected to start coming down, demand appears to be driving prices forward again. A decline in the supply of second-hand properties available for sale was also cited as a factor.
The CSO’s national property price index reached the value of 183.9 in July, which is 12.4 per cent above its highest level at the peak of the property boom in April 2007. Dublin residential property prices were estimated to be 0.6 per cent higher than their February 2007 peak, while residential property prices in the Rest of Ireland were estimated to be 13.3 per cent higher than their May 2007 peak.
In July, there were 4,723 dwelling purchases by households at market prices filed with the Revenue Commissioners.
The CSO said this represents a 13.2 per cent increase compared with the 4,174 purchases in July 2023 and a 32.6 per cent increase compared with the 3,563 purchases recorded in June 2024. The total value of transactions filed in July was €1.9 billion.
Households paid a median (or middle value) price of €340,000 for a dwelling in the 12 months to July.
The Dublin region had the highest median price (€458,000) in the year to July. Within the Dublin region, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median price (€630,000), while Fingal had the lowest (€424,500).
The highest median prices recorded outside of Dublin were in Wicklow (€449,999) and Kildare (€395,000), while the lowest median price was €171,000 in Longford.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to reduce interest rates further in the coming months after rate cuts in June and September as inflation across the euro area continues to ease, potentially adding further momentum to the market here.
The latest figures come as the Central Bank warned that if the current housing shortfall was not addressed there would be a “lowering of living standards”. In its latest quarterly bulletin, the regulator suggested to State would need to build 52,000 homes a year out to 2050 to address the undersupply.
Brokers Ireland said the “debate over the number of homes needed has become tiresome.”
“We’ve had all the big institutions and think tanks, along with the Government’s Housing Commission, and the latest being the Central Bank, name big numbers, sometimes different big numbers but what we really need to hear is more about what is going to be done differently to ensure more homes are built so that prices become stabilised and more affordable,” Rachel McGovern, deputy chief executive at Brokers Ireland said.
- Sign up for the Business Today newsletter and get the latest business news and commentary in your inbox every weekday morning
- Opt in to Business push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our Inside Business podcast is published weekly – Find the latest episode here
