In Cork City, prices in the second quarter of 2024 were 9% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of less than 1% seen a year ago. The average price of a home is now €364,000, 2% below its Celtic Tiger peak. In the rest of Cork, prices in the second quarter of 2024 were 8% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 3% seen a year ago. The average price of a home is now €309,000, 12% below its Celtic Tiger peak.
Nationally, housing prices rose by an average of 3.8% in the second quarter of 2024, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report released today by Ireland’s largest property website, Daft.ie. The typical listed price nationwide in the second quarter of 2024 was €340,398, 6.7% higher than in the same period a year earlier and 35% higher than at the onset of the covid19 pandemic.
While the increase in the second quarter was broadly based, there remain notable differences in price trends across the country. In Dublin, prices in the second quarter of the year were 4.7% higher than a year previously, while in Cork and Waterford cities, the increase was closer to 10%. In Galway and Limerick cities, prices were more than 12% higher year-on-year.
A similar pattern holds for the rest of the country. In Leinster (outside Dublin), prices were up 6.1% year-on-year, while in Munster the increase was 10.4% and in Connacht-Ulster 6.2%. But while almost all regions saw inflation tick up, compared to previous quarters, in Connacht-Ulster inflation is cooling slightly.
The number of second-hand homes available to buy nationwide on June 1st stood at just over 11,350, down 18% year-on-year and less than half the 2015-2019 average of almost 25,000. Since the start of the year, there have been consistently fewer than 12,000 second-hand homes available to buy. The only other time the market has been as tight, in a series extending back to 2007, is the period January-May 2022.
“The tightness in availability has put upward pressure on housing prices. As the figures show, inflation had peaked in late 2021, as that glut of savings found its way into the housing market. Inflation cooled from 13% in mid-2021 to just 2.6% in mid-2023. As of mid-2024, however, it is back to 6.7%. Where it goes next will depend on how fast second-hand supply recovers.”
Ronan Lyons economist at Trinity College Dublin.
Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said:
“Over the past twenty years, a clear pattern has emerged in both sale and rental markets: when availability is tight, prices are pushed upwards. Availability in the sales market has been consistently tight since the start of the year and thus it is not surprising that prices nationally recorded their largest three-month increase since 2020. In part, tight availability of second-hand homes reflects the impact of significant interest rate increases. As rates come down again, and in particular as sitting homeowners come off fixed-rate mortgages, supply should improve. This, however, is likely to take time and thus tight conditions may continue for some time.”
Average list price and year-on-year change – major cities, Q2 2024
Dublin City: €453,671 – up 4.7%
Cork City: €363,845 – up 9.3%
Limerick City: €292,253 – up 12.5%
Galway City: €402,885 – up 12.2%
Waterford City: €258,199 – up 9.9%
Rest of the country: €290,770 – up 7.5%
The full report is available from HERE and includes commentary by Ronan Lyons, Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft.ie Report.
