THE PRICE OF residential property increased by 4.5% in April while people purchasing homes as a couple rose by 15% since 2010.
The latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that a price increase of 4.5% compares with 3.5% in March and an increase of 0.7% in the 12 months to April last year.
As demand in the housing market continues to grow prices rose in Dublin by 3.5% and by 5.4% outside of Dublin, CSO data shows.
Households paid a median price of €265,000 for a home in the 12 months up to April, in Dublin this rose to a median price of €390,000.
The highest house price growth in Dublin was in Dublin City at 5% with Fingal and South Dublin seeing a rise of 3.2%.
The region outside of Dublin that saw the largest rise in house prices was the border region at 8.5%, while the south west of the country saw a 3% rise.
Today’s data shows that overall, property prices in Ireland have risen by 91% since early 2013.
The CSO figures reveal that the price of new properties in the first three months of 2021 were 2.5% higher than in the same period last year.
Prices of existing homes in the first quarter of 2021 were 3.3% higher than at the same time in 2020.
Meanwhile, 62.2% were joint-purchases in 2019 – an increase from 47% in 2010.
The typical age for joint purchases has risen from 35 in 2010 to 38 in 2019, while the median age of solo purchasers rose from 34 to 42 years over the same period.
In 2019, the highest median price paid by joint purchasers was €565,000 in Dún Laoghaire, while the lowest was €130,000 in Leitrim.
Typical incomes of a joint purchaser was €81,500 in 2019. This is for people with children.
This compares with a sole purchaser where the median income was €42,600.
The CSO said €77,900 was the typical income for joint purchasers without children.
For sole purchasers without children the median income was €43,000. Those with children who bought in 2019 had a typical income of €40,100.
The latest data comes as The Journal’s The Good Information Project turns its attention to housing.
In recent weeks we’ve focused on a number of key issues including a constitutional right to housing and the small matter of affordability.
It was revealed today that more than 1,100 households have been served with eviction notices since August despite a ban on people losing their homes for part of that period.
Figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) show that in the last 10 months, 3,800 households have been served with rent arrears warning notices while 1,122 have been issued with notices of termination of their tenancy.
There are now concerns that people could be forced to leave their rented accommodation after the ban on evictions was lifted in April with just 475 having sought Government protection over the inability to pay rent since August.
Tenants can avoid being evicted or having their rent increased until this date if they can prove they are in rent arrears or at risk of losing their tenancy, however RTB figures show that just 475 out of the 3,800 people in rent arrears have made these declarations.
Labour’s Housing spokesperson Rebecca Moynihan said the number of people registering as being financially impacted “is ridiculously low”.
“The system is too cumbersome and doesn’t give protection to the vast majority of renters who have been impacted by the pandemic,” she said.
Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin O’Broin said the gradual increase in termination notices since January is “worrying”.
“The fear many of us have is that it could lead to an increase in evictions and people ending in homeless and emergency accommodation, that’s unacceptable.”
O’Broin said that “the overwhelming majority of tenants are just struggling to get by and we should not be allowing a situation where those people are forced to leave their accommodation and have to search for other accommodation when doing so still carries a risk”.
Labour’s Moynihan said the RTB figures show “it’s back to business as usual for tenants being evicted” and called for policy to strengthen tenants’ rights.
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Tomorrow night at 7pm The Good Information Project is hosting a panel discussion looking at solutions to Ireland’s housing crisis.
Over the past few weeks we’ve been exploring a number of issues on this topic including controversial developments, the affordability question, the debate behind a constitutional right to housing and people’s rental stories.
We have a great line-up of experts on housing tomorrow evening and we want to see what big ideas, real-world working examples, and clever solutions could be brought into the housing debate.
Register now for free tickets.
This is part of The Good Information Project, which is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work is the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.
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