A range of property market reports have been telling us that the residential market has been on the rise for some time now. However, it was interesting to note in Sherry FitzGerald’s latest analysis of the market for the first quarter of 2014 that the number of investors who bought property through their 83 branches nationwide has almost doubled on the same period last year.

According to the report, investors bought 19 per cent of the properties that were sold through Sherry FitzGerald in the first quarter of this year. This was up 9 per cent on the same period of last year and means that would-be landlords now equate for roughly one-fifth of the market, just behind first-time buyers who make up 21 per cent of purchasers having fallen by 4 per cent on the same period 12 months earlier. This would indicate that property seems a worthwhile investment again, particularly in the key urban areas and their commuter belts where a lack of stock is helping to drive up property prices and rents.

It also shows that cash buyers are still out there and are contributing to rising prices at a time when demand is outweighing supply in the market. The same report found that in January of this year the number of properties for sale on the overall market in Dublin was down 53 per cent year-on-year. There were similar problems in Galway City ( down 50 per cent), Kildare ( down 48 per cent), Wicklow (down 40 per cent), Cork city (down 35 per cent), Co Cork (down 33 per cent) and Co Galway (down 32 per cent).

The Sherry FitzGerald figures show that the average value of property nationally rose 5 per cent in the first quarter and by 6.5 per cent in Dublin, and it appears that this increase in prices is largely investor driven, as first-time buyers struggle to find suitable accommodation.