Hope for househunters as more homes on sale

Almost 33% more on the market in capital

THE number of houses for sale in the capital has increased by almost a third, bringing welcome relief to prospective homebuyers.

Myhome.ie said there are currently 5,083 houses on sale in the capital, up from 3,860 this time last year.

This represents a rise of more than 1,200 – and the increase in homes for sale is as much as 50% in some parts of Dublin, it said.

Homebuyers in Dublin, as in other parts of the country, have been frustrated by a shortage of homes for sale due to the collapse of housebuilding in the recession.

Angela Keegan, of myhome.ie, said: ‘As we all know the shortage of houses is most acute in our capital so it is very encouraging to see more houses coming on the market. Clearly, rising prices have encouraged more homeowners to put their properties up for sale.’

Increases of 45% to 50% in homes for sale were recorded in Dublin 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 22 and 24. The smallest rises were in Dublin 3 and 11.

Ms Keegan said: ‘The increase in stock has largely been confined to Dublin with the number of homes available outside the capital remaining largely unchanged.’

There was further encouraging news for house-hunters as official figures showed the number of planning permissions granted for homes in the first three months of the year rose by 80% to 8,405 compared to the same period a year ago.

The biggest rise was in planning permissions for apartments from 896 at the beginning of last year to 2,488 this year – a rise of 178%.

Planning permission was granted for almost 6,000 houses compared to 3,754 in the same period last year, an increase of almost 58%.

Property Industry Ireland director David Duffy described the dramatic rise as ‘a very strong increase’ and credited the Government’s decision to allow planning applications for large-scale housing developments of 100 units or more to bypass the local authority planning process and be made directly to An Bord Pleanála.

He said: ‘It’s being driven by multi-development houses, which is good news. It’s also from the first quarter of this year which is when you’d have got some of the first granting of permissions under the Fast Track Strategic Housing Development which increases the numbers. Some of those are quite large schemes. They have to be over 100 units to qualify for it so that’s contributed to the increase. It is a positive that they are estates and we’ve got that level of planning permission.

‘The key will be how much of it moves into development and the pace it moves into development but all the numbers point to strong demand,’ he said.

It comes as a report by a property search engine claims the average house-hunter in Dublin has a budget of €315,000 for a home.

In addition, some 4% of Dubliners had a budget of €1million while 1% had €5million, said Perfect Property.

However, the demand for apartments has rapidly dropped, with 73% of searchers looking for houses.

More than one third of these househunters are looking for newly built properties, for which there are first-time buyer government grants. Buyers are focusing their searches away from central Dublin and into the suburbs as people hunt for a back garden.

Some 76% of house-hunters say a back garden is a ‘must have’ in their new home. The most popular home searches are in Finglas, Swords, Tallaght and Malahide.

Buyers are searching for homes in the upmarket costal suburb of Dún Laoghaire on 48% more occasions than a year ago.

Planning permits for houses rise too