VIEWINGS AND deals in the Dublin housing market rebounded in May, as first-time buyers and those trading up shook off their nervousness about the market, according to Sherry FitzGerald chief executive Mark FitzGerald.
Sales of second-hand homes in Dublin topped €100 million at Sherry FitzGerald in May, with receipts coming in at €113 million for the month after a "pretty solid" April.
Mr FitzGerald said business was "fairly in line" with the same period in 2007 and had improved since the end of last year.
"A section of the public thinks that the correction is more pronounced than many of the pundits and the indices have said. For some people the correction is not complete, but a fair section believes it is fairly well advanced."
According to the Permanent TSB/ Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) house price index, average house prices in April were 9.2 per cent lower nationally than they were in April 2007. The latest figures showed that the decline in the market had accelerated again as developers began to offload a glut of new properties at discount prices, suggesting that prices may continue to fall over the next few months.
"The correction may not be complete, but my own view is that it's possibly more complete than has been said," Mr FitzGerald said. "The viewings are good and the deals are being done . . . People are voting with their feet. They are shopping around and looking for value."
First-time buyers are "certainly not out there in their droves" but they are "enough of them out there buying apartments and starter homes" and enabling those homeowners to trade up, according to Mr FitzGerald. Activity in the mid-market was also growing although the top end remained quiet, he added.
"I'm not denying that the activity is not what it was three or four years ago, but people are getting on with their lives. They're having families and, when you need extra space, you can't wait for an economic recovery."
The upside of having a bigger supply of properties is that buyers in Dublin now have a wider choice of second-hand properties from which to choose, he said: "Before, they had a choice between two properties, now they have a choice between four or five."
Outside Dublin, properties had become "really very affordable", he said.
