PROPERTY PRICE GROWTH INCREASES TO 2.9% IN NOVEMBER – CSO

Property price growth picked up on an annual basis for the third successive month in November, increasing by 2.9% after prices rose by 0.8% on a monthly basis, new Central Statistics Office figures show today.

Annual price growth had cooled from a recent peak of 15.1% in February 2022 to a near three-year low of 1.1% last August, but the supply of new housing is still not growing fast enough to catch up with increased demand.

Property prices had recorded gains of 8.5% in November 2022.

Today’s CSO figures show that property prices outside of Dublin saw bigger increases than those in the city. Prices outside of Dublin rose by 4.4% in November with prices in Dublin up by 0.9% – the first increase in Dublin prices since April of last year.

House prices in Dublin rose by 1% while apartment prices rose by 0.6% in November, the CSO said today.

It noted that the highest house price growth in Dublin was in Fingal at 2.5% while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown saw a decline of 0.1%.

Outside of Dublin, house prices were up by 4.2% and apartment prices rose by 7.2%.

The region outside of Dublin that saw the largest rise in house prices was the Mid-West – Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary – with increases of 7.4%.

The Midlands – Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath – and the Mid-East – Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow – both saw a 3.3% rise.

Today’s CSO figures show that the median price of a home bought in the 12 months to November reached €325,000.

The lowest median price for a home in the 12 months to November 2023 was €161,000 in Longford, while the highest median price was €622,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.

Meanwhile, the most expensive Eircode area during the period under review A94 “Blackrock” with a median price of €725,000, while F45 “Castlerea” had the least expensive price of €135,000.

The CSO figures also reveal that a total of 4,618 home purchases were filed with Revenue in November, a decrease of 5.8% when compared with the 4,901 purchases the same month last year.

They also show that prices of new homes in the third quarter were 10.4% higher than the same time in 2022. This compares with an increase of 11% in the year to the second quarter.

Meanwhile, prices of existing dwellings in the third quarter of 2023 were 1% lower than in the corresponding quarter of 2022, which compares with an increase of 0.6% in the year to the second quarter.

Trevor Grant, chairman of the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisers, said the continued increase in the annual rate of national house price growth will be a worry for those wishing to get into the property ladder in 2024.

He added that the recent extensions and changes to the Help to Buy and First Home schemes, will hopefully assist some first-time buyers to get their foot onto the property ladder in the coming months and year – if they can find a home.

Mr Grant also said the perennial issue of housing supply continues to dog the market, noting recent figures from Myhome.ie which showed that the housing stock for sale is now at its lowest level since the Covid pandemic.

“Worryingly, a report published by the SCSI yesterday reveals that a high proportion of landlords are considering selling their rental properties, with 36% of residential sales instructions to Q4 2023 being landlords selling their properties,” he said.

“This will exacerbate the already chronic shortage of available rental accommodation and makes it even more imperative for people to be able to buy their own homes today. Furthermore, in almost all cases, it is still cheaper to buy than to rent over the long-term,” he added.

RTE News

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Michael McDonnell Managing Editor of Irish Construction Industry Magazine & Plan Magazine

Email: michael@irishconstruction.com    WWW.MCDMEDIA.IE         WWW.IRISHCONSTRUCTION.COM