LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago

IRISH HOUSE PRICES are going in only one direction.

In a market beset by constrained supply, many homes are now selling for 20% above their asking price.

And those asking prices are, to many people’s minds, too high.

In many areas of Dublin, house prices of well over half a million euro are becoming the new normal: the average price of a second-hand home in the capital hit €580,000 last year – up €50,000 in 12 months, according to estate agent DNG.

By this time next year, a second-hand home in Dublin will cost €630,000 on average, DNG predicts.

Nationally, prices rose by 9% last year, the highest price inflation since 2017 – but prices have been climbing steadily for many years now.

Housing is a necessity and price inflation does not dampen demand. In November alone, 4,400 mortgages with a combined value of €1.3bn were approved – the bulk of them for would-be first-time buyers.

Figures from the banking industry show the average first-time buyer mortgage rose by €24,000 year on year to hit a new high of over €319,000, as buyers scramble to keep up with rising prices.

So how do people do it? 

If you’ve bought a house in the past 10 years, we want to hear your experience of getting on the property ladder.

How did you afford the deposit? Did you or your partner get help from family, or receive an inheritance or other windfall?

Or did you save – and if so, what sacrifices did that involve? 

Were you able to rent while saving for a house, or did you have to move back in with your parents? 

Were you able to buy in the area you wanted to live in, or did you have to look further afield? 

Was it hard to get a mortgage, and did you have to jump through any hoops to do so?

If you have a story to share, please contact The Journal by email at answers@thejournal.ie.

Please let us know what year you bought, and where, and what kind of property. Please describe your experience in a paragraph or two (around 200-250 words), and include your name and county – let us know if you’d like to remain anonymous.