HOUSE PRICES UP 1.5% IN 3MTHS DESPITE COVID
Home-owners keen to move on up quickly
RECORD mortgage approvals and a lack of supply have pushed up average house prices by almost 1.5% in the past three months.
Despite the recession caused by Covid-19, the price of a three-bed semidetached rose by more than €3,000 to €239,194 – an annual increase of 1.9%.
A report from the Real Estate Alliance found an average three- bed semi is selling after just six weeks on the market, down from the 10-week average in June.
Spokesman Barry Mcdonald said: “People are watching the market very closely and our agents are finding that as soon as they put a property up on our
sites, the majority of the inquiries are coming within the first 48 hours.
“It is hard to imagine the market would perform better during the crisis than before it, but we are witnessing the highest demand levels that I have seen.
Pent-up demand and a scarcity of supply has seen the time taken to close sales fall from a high of 10 weeks in quarter one and quarter two to an average of six weeks nationally – with agencies in many areas such as my own in Lucan and West Dublin going sale agreed on most properties in under four weeks.”
The price of a three-bed semi in Dublin rose by 0.6% to €431,833 in the past three months, an annual increase of 1.41%.
Interest in suburbs such as Clontarf on the northside have risen 4% or €25,000 in the past three months to €625,000.
Commuter counties are feeling the benefit of moves towards home working, with three-bed semis rising 2.2% by almost €6,000 on the third quarter figure to an average of €253,111.
Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford all shared an increase of 2.4% with prices rising by €6,000 to an average of €262,500.