The average asking price for Irish homes rose at an annual rate of 5.9 per cent in the third quarter, representing a slowdown from the 7.5 per cent rate of inflation seen at the start of the year, according to property website Daft.ie.
Daft has also spotted an easing in transaction price growth, to 7.8 per cent in the third quarter from 9.1 per cent in the second.
Listed prices are 39 per cent above their pre-Covid levels, but 10 per cent below their Celtic Tiger peak, according to the company.
Home prices continue to be driven by a lack of supply in both the new homes and second-hand markets. On September 1st, there were a total of 11,925 second-hand homes for sale nationwide. While that was up 1 per cent on the same period last year, it was down 52 per cent from the average between 2015 and 2019, according to Daft.
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Economists broadly expect about 32,000 new homes to be completed in the Republic this year – about two-thirds of the amount that the Government has set itself as an average annual delivery target between now and 2030.
“By all measures – stock, flow and transaction volume – supply remains tight,” said economist Ronan Lyons, author of the report.
The average listed price for a three-bed semi-detached house in Dublin was €612,824 in the third quarter, up 4.5 per cent on the year, but 27 per cent above pre-Covid levels and 8 per cent off the bubble-era peak.
The Daft figures differ from the Central Statistics Office data, which focuses on transaction prices. On that measure, home prices nationally were almost 21 per cent above the 2007 property boom peak in July.
Daft said that asking prices in other Irish cities averaged €386,004 in the third quarter, up 5.8 per cent on the year. Prices in Leinster, excluding Dublin, where up 7.2 per cent at €361,499, while those in Munster, outside of cities, rose 5 per cent to €297,996. Prices across Connaught and Ulster, excluding Galway, jumped 8.7 per cent to €248,925.
“Prices in the capital have now been growing slower than the national average in 28 of the last 29 quarters,” said Mr Lyons. “Prices rose fastest in Connacht-Ulster in the year to September - the 13th time in 20 quarters it saw the fastest annual growth of the five regions.”
He said that new home sales – often to institutional non-profit organisations – are driving sales activity in Dublin as the second-hand market “falters”. State-backed Approved Housing Bodies have been playing a major role in the housing market in recent years, through deals to purchase completed apartment blocks and also forward-fund the development of others.
Meanwhile prices are being driven up by the “sustained shortage of available housing” in Ireland, Marian Finnegan, the chief executive of the Sherry Fitzgerald Group has said.
Separate research from the estate agent found the average value of second-hand homes in the country rose 7.3 per cent over the past 12 months, with a 1.8 per cent rise in the past three months.
Available housing has halved since 2019 in six counties. Dublin has seen less price inflation, with a 1.1 per cent increase in the past quarter bringing the annual rise to 6.5 per cent.
The stock of housing continues to be an issue.
