Average home price €300k, but growth slowing, says report

THE average price of a home has now hit almost €300,000, official figures show.

In total, some 4,104 domestic property transactions were recorded in the month of July, up significantly from 3,543 in May and 3,349 in June.

But as prices still rise, the rate at which they are going up is gradually slowing down, albeit from a very high level.

Nationally, property prices were up 10.4% in the 12 months to July, down from 11.9% in June and 12.4% in May, according to a report by the Central Statistics Office.

The slowdown was described as ‘good news’ yesterday by property market expert Dr John McCartney, research director with agents Savills.

But despite the sharp slowdown in more expensive areas, houses in the Mid-West region – Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary – were up by an astonishing 24% in the past year, as the region plays ‘catch-up’ with the rest of the country.

In Dublin, price rises have slowed to 7.2%, split between house prices up by 6.5% and apartments up by 11%.

The strongest house price growth was in Dún LaoghaireRathdown, at 9.8%. But the slowest growth was in neighbouring South Dublin, where house prices were up 5.2%.

Economist Dr McCartney said: ‘In country locations, particularly where prices are lower, a €10,000 increase represents a big percentage change, but it’s still a modest change in absolute terms.

‘That’s one of the reasons why Dublin is registering lower price growth, because the prices are already so high that in percentage terms any additional amount represents a smaller increase.

‘We had forecast there would be a sharp slowdown in house price inflation, particularly in Dublin, and that’s exactly what has happened.’

He added: ‘I think part of it is that new supply is coming on-stream to match demand. We’re not there yet, but it is starting and you would expect as we build more houses... the rate of house price inflation should naturally slow. ‘This is unequivocally good news; 7.2% house price inflation in Dublin is still very rapid, still high, but we expect it to slow a little bit further over the coming months.’

CSO figures show the most expensive place in the country is still Dublin 4, with a mean price of €806,293.

The second most expensive Eircode area was D06 – Dublin 6 – where the mean price was €749,078. The least expensive Eircode area in Dublin was D10, or Dublin 10, with a mean price of €219,699. Outside Dublin, the most expensive Eircode was A63, Greystones in Co. Wicklow, with a mean dwelling price of €444,228. The second most expensive outside Dublin was P17, Kinsale in Co. Cork, at €405,491.’

Pat Davitt, chief executive of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, said that of the 4,104 property sales in July, just one in five was for a new house or apartment.

‘While the volume of new dwellings increased by just over 30% on the previous year, it is not enough to meet demand, and it’s coming from a very low base,’ said Mr Davitt. He said he expected the current trend to continue.