The commuters forced to drive 310km for work
SOARING property prices have forced families to move beyond the commuter belt to as far as Roscommon and Waterford in order to buy affordable homes.
Prices in the new commuter belt of Carlow, Roscommon, Laois and Waterford jumped by up to 18% in the first six months of the year as families endure gruelling commutes to own a home.
A three-bedroom semi-detached house in Roscommon town costs, on average, between €150,000 and €200,000.
By comparison, a three-bed, one-bathroom semi in Dublin’s Drumcondra is currently on sale on daft.ie for €825,000.
Father-of-two Seán Draper and his wife Julie bought a house in Moate, Co. Westmeath earlier this year.
The strength-and-conditioning coach works in Dublin and commutes for up to four hours or more a day, a 220km return trip.
‘I leave at 5am, it takes me an hour-and-a-half to get to my job but in the evenings it can take more than two-and-a-half hours to get home,’ he said.
Analysis of the Property Price Register by myhome.ie showed that the biggest percentage increase in sales so far this year include Carlow (18.5%), Roscommon (14.6%), Laois (13.5%), Waterford (11.8%) and Donegal (9%).
Not surprisingly some of these counties are also where the value of sales rose the most.
Angela Keegan, managing director of myhome.ie, said: ‘This trend probably reflects the fact that the recovery is spreading to other parts of the country while it also indicates some people may be moving out beyond the commuter belt due to affordability issues.’
John Earley, owner of the Property Partners Earley estate agent in Roscommon, said more and more residents are making the arduous 155km journey from Roscommon to Dublin, a round trip of 310km.
He said: ‘With the road structure now we are not that far away. We leave Roscommon and can be at the airport in an hour-and-a-half.
Economist Ronan Lyons said many people are now effectively ‘trading petrol for mortgages’ as they are priced out of the capital.
‘The scarcity of property in and around the bigger cities, especially Dublin, has meant that people are going further to places like Cavan, Roscommon, Laois and Wexford in order to find somewhere to live,’ the Trinity professor said.
‘Central Bank rules, combined with the shortage of housing, means that often to be able to afford somewhere they have to effectively trade petrol for mortgage.
‘Instead of buying somewhere that maybe costs €1,000 a month in Dublin, they go for somewhere that’s €700 a month further away.
Mr Lyons added: ‘But they actually spend more in time, petrol and child care costs because the Central Bank rules are affecting them in terms of what they can borrow. Ireland already suffers very long commutes relative to other countries. People are under the illusion that they can spread jobs out rather than concentrate on housing.’
Analysis of the Property Price Register by myhome.ie showed that the number house sales increased nationally by 3.6% between January and June compared to the same period in 2017.
Dublin accounts for a third of the property market and 8,187 houses were sold there between January and June –an 8% increase on last year.
Yet sales in Roscommon increased by 14.6% and by 11.8% in Waterford.
The number of sales on the Property Price Register rose in 16 counties, fell in nine and remained unchanged in one during the first half of 2018, but the amount of money spent on property was up in all but three counties: Louth, Monaghan and Clare.
The value of sales in Dublin rose a quarter from €3.01billion to €3.8billion across 8,187 sales, averaging approximately €464,000 each. There were 335 sales of properties worth more than €1million in Dublin between January and June, while the most expensive single property sold was in the affluent suburb of Dalkey for €7.8million in May.
By contrast, the least amount of money spent was in Longford, where €19.3million was spread over 201 sales – an average sale price of €96,000. Comment – Page 14
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