House prices predicted to rise by 3.8% this year
HOUSE prices in Wicklow are expected to rise by 3.8 per cent in 2017, a survey by the Real Estate Alliance (REA) Group has found.
Limited supply and the easing of first-time buyers restrictions are expected to continue the 5.5 per cent growth that the county experienced in 2016, according to REA.
This comes as the REA Average House Price Survey revealed that prices in Wicklow had increased by €13,000 over the past year – with the average three-bed semi now costing €250,000.
Prices in Wicklow rose by 0.8 per cent in the last three months of the year, the REA’s Q4 Average House Price Survey found.
But REA agents are predicting that the Government’s Help To Buy Scheme and the easing of the Central Bank restrictions will combine to produce an average 3.8 per cent increase across the county in the coming year.
‘Where there are new houses for sale, the market is very buoyant. There are significant developments in the pipeline all down the N11 including Kilcoole, Rathnew, Arklow and Wicklow town,’ said Matt Forkin of REA Forkin in Wicklow town.
Simon Murphy from REA Murphy in Blessington predicts that any rise in prices is likely to come from an increase in earnings for buyers due to the nature of the Central Bank’s multiplier restrictions.
The outlook for the commuter areas surrounding the capital is quite cautious, with counties around Dublin predicting a rise of 3.8 per cent on average and many agents fearing that the market has hit its height under the current financial regime.
The price prediction survey found that agents expect prices nationally to rise by 6.1 per cent over the next year – with Dublin predicted to grow by 6.8 per cent over the next twelve months. The average semi-detached house nationally now costs €202,926, the Q4 REA Average House Price Survey has found – a rise of 1.4 per cent on the Q3 figure of €200,148.
The biggest percentage increases over the past year came in the country’s smaller rural towns situated outside of Dublin, the commuter belt and the major cities.