The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
House prices jump by almost four per cent in three months
THE average price of a house in Kerry has jumped by almost four per cent in the last three months, according to the latest sales figures released by property website myhome.ie.
According to the website’s most recent property report – for the second quarter of 2017 – the average price of a three bed semi detached home in Kerry is now €140,000. The average price of a four bed semi-detached house in the county now stands at €148,500.
That represents an increase of 3.7 per cent on the first three months of the year.
While prices are increasing they remain far below their boom era high. The figures show average prices in Kerry are still 42.86 per cent below their peak level.
Houses in Kerry remain among the cheapest in Munster, with only Tipperary recording a lower average price of €135,000. However, prices in Kerry are now rising at a higher rate than in most other counties in the province. Only Cork – where prices grew by 4.76 per cent from April to June –saw a greater rate of increase in Munster.
By contrast in Limerick city and county prices grew by just 0.88 per cent. In Waterford prices grew by just 0.33 per cent. Nationally average house prices have jumped by 5.5 per cent.
The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, Chief Economist at Davy, said house price inflation should remain strong despite the likely abolition of the ‘Help-to-Buy’ scheme in the upcoming Budget.
While acknowledging that five per cent was another sharp increase he pointed out that prices do tend to fall back after the summer.
“The outlook for Irish house price inflation will be primarily driven by robust jobs growth, rising incomes and competition among home buyers, leading to more highly leveraged mortgage lending,” he said.
The likely demise of ‘Help-to-Buy’ could lead to a rush of transactions in 2017 as first-time buyers move quickly to avail of the scheme and to a slowdown in 2018 as it is phased out. Nonetheless, the bigger picture is that Irish house price inflation should remain robust, driven by the recovering economy,” said Mr MacCoille.
“Did ‘Help-to-Buy’ contribute to house price inflation? What evidence there is suggests it did, as the price of newly built homes is rising much faster than existing dwellings,” he said.