ASKING PRICES FOR homes in Ireland’s cities outside Dublin have leapt over the past three months.
The latest house price report from Daft.ie showed a sharp reversal in the fortunes of home buyers both in and outside the capital, where the Central Bank’s mortgage lending rules have put the brakes on the country’s most-expensive property market.
The average asking price across Dublin was down 1.4% to €306,340 over the three months from July to September, only the second time since 2013 there had been a quarterly decline.
But elsewhere quoted prices were up 3.9% to just over €205,000 with properties also selling for greater premiums over the ticket rate than in the capital when final transaction prices were factored in.
The biggest increases in asking prices over the past three months came in Ireland’s other major urban centres. The rise was led by Limerick, where the average price was up 7.7% during the period.
In Cork, asking prices have jumped 19.1% against the same time a year earlier, compared to only a 2.4% annual rise in Dublin.
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Dublin, average asking price: €306,540
Quarter 3 change: -1.4%; Year-on-year change: +2.4%
Cork city, average asking price: €225,361
Q3: +6.8%; YoY: +19.1%
Galway city, average asking price: €222,616
Q3: +7.2%; YoY: +18.1%
Limerick city, average asking price: €143,929
Q3: +7.7%; YoY: +17.3%
Waterford city, average asking price: €126,688
Q3: +7.2%; YoY: +12%
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The Central Bank effect
The report’s author, economist Ronan Lyons, said the figures confirmed the Central Bank’s lending rules had a “massive impact on house price inflation in the dearest parts of the country”.
Compared to a year ago, asking prices had fallen or were static in several pricey Dublin postcodes, while every part of the city and surrounding county had experienced a drop over the past three months.
At the average asking price in Dublin, a first-time buyer would need a minimum deposit of €39,308 and an annual household income of €76,352 to get a loan under the lending caps.
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“This immediate cooling of the market is to be welcomed, although a side-effect of the income caps is a shift in demand elsewhere in the country,” Lyons said.
In Ireland’s other cities, where year-on-year inflation is at 18%, this is arguably Central Bank income caps acting as a target, rather than a constraint.”
Outside the major cities, Offaly was the only county to record a quarterly decline in asking prices. Advertised rates were down 0.2% to an average of €141,109 over the three months.
Longford was the cheapest county in which to buy a house with an average asking price of €99,775, up 8.7% over the past year. It was followed by Leitrim with an average asking price of €100,480, an increase of 5.2% compared to the same period in 2014.
The number of properties listed for sale on the site has stabilised at about 30,000, less than half the peak of over 60,000 in 2009.
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Inflation slowing
A report out last week from rival property site MyHome.ieshowed similar, although smaller, falls in Dublin asking prices to those in the Daft.ie figures.
Davy chief economist Conall Mac Coille predicted national house price inflation would slow to 5% by December and stay steady at that rate next year.
Asking prices are used as an indicator of where the market is headed, compared to figures from the CSO and Property Price Register which look back on completed transactions.
Note: Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with Daft.ie publisher Distilled Media Group.
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