A three-bed semi detached in Cork county cost €180,000 by the end of the year, according to the latest Daft.ie sales report.
That’s an annual hike of 13.5%. A four-bed bungalow cost €333k (up 6.9%) and a five-bed detached cost €351k (up 3.4%)
The average house price in the county was set at €219,745 at the end of the year. Quarter on quarter change, that was down 2%, but the year on year change that was up 5.3%
The average price nationwide in the final quarter of 2021 was €290,998, up 0.6% on the third quarter of 2021 and just 21% below the Celtic Tiger peak.
The smallest increases were in urban areas. In Galway city, prices rose by 1.6% during the year, while in Dublin, prices rose by 3.4%. In Cork city, prices rose by 5.5% while in Limerick and Waterford cities, the increases were 6.4% and 7.5% respectively. But outside the five main cities, prices rose by an average of 11.5% during 2021. The increase in Munster (outside the cities) was 9.2%, while in Leinster excluding Dublin, prices rose by 11.9%. The largest increase in prices in the country was seen in Connacht-Ulster, where prices rose by 14.6% during 2021.
Fewer than 11,500 homes were listed for sale on December 1st, the lowest total recorded since July 2006. This represents a fall of one quarter, year-on-year. The total number of ads of properties for sale in the year to December 1st was just over 54,000, the highest 12-month total since early 2020. While supply has improved, it remains well below pre-pandemic levels – with almost 70,000 homes listed for sale during 2019.
Author Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said: ‘inflation in listed prices continues to cool from its mid-year peak. Nonetheless, at nearly 8% for the year, it remains stubbornly high. This reflects a combination of unusually strong demand and on-going weak supply. Demand for homes to buy, which had been strong anyway from the mid-2010s, has received an unexpected boost during the pandemic, with prospective buyers able to tap into ‘accidental’ savings, as expenditure fell during the lockdowns. Meanwhile, both new and second-hand supply remain weaker than expected before the pandemic. While the pandemic has changed some particulars, the general health of the housing market is largely unchanged – it is one characterised by weak supply in the face of strong demand. For that reason, additional supply – not just of homes for sale but also of market and social rental housing – remains key to solving Ireland’s chronic housing shortage.’
