Has Normal People led to an increase in house prices?
IT HAS BEEN claimed that Sligo being used as a setting for part of the hit TV series Normal People has pushed up house prices in the county.
However, two other reports on the property market in past week have suggested a more normal reason – a shortage of homes being put up for sale.
The claim about Normal People, which was filmed at a number of locations in Sligo including principally Tubbercurry and Streedagh, is made by UK online mortgage broker Trussle.
It says that new data has revealed house prices in locations of popular picturesque TV programmes rose by an average of 5% in 2020 compared to neighbouring towns which saw a 2% increase.
The online broker mapped out what it said were 10 of the most popular TV locations and house prices across the UK and included Sligo with Normal People as an example. Dunlop in East Ayrshire in Scotland, set of ITV drama Deadwater Fell (now showing again on RTE), tops the list with what Trussle says is an 9.5% increase in property prices in 2020, with prices more than double (129%) the neighbouring town of East Kilbride. It says that “in a year where we spent more time at home than ever before, time on streaming services doubled and more and more households subscribed to streaming platforms to pass the time in lockdown”.
Of Sligo, it says “home of the BBC’s hit drama, Normal People, saw property prices rise by almost 2% (1.77%) in 2020, 20% higher than Co. Leitrim”. It gives the average price of a house in Sligo as £100,000 (€118,000). However, the suggestion and house price figure is at odds with the quarterly reports from estate agents group REA and property website Daft.ie.
Daft.ie, who work on the asking prices of properties on their website, say that in Sligo, prices in the first three months of 2021 were 1.5% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 5% seen a year ago.
They say the average price of a home in County Sligo is now €152,000, 45% above its lowest point during the crash.
However, Daft say that asking prices in Sligo actually fell by 1.9% between December and March.
And, according to their figures, prices in Sligo are very low in national terms, being the third lowest in the country after Roscommon (€150,000 average) and Leitrim (€132,977).
The REA Average House Price Index concentrates on the actual sale price of what they say is Ireland’s typical stock home, the three-bed semi, to give an accurate picture of the second-hand property market.
Based on that they say the price of the average three-bed semi in county Sligo has increased by 3.4% to €150,000 in the last three months.
REA say that in Sligo town, prices rose 2.8% in the first quarter of the year to €185,000, and prices in Tubbercurry rose 4.6% to €115,000.
According to the REA figures Sligo house prices are the fifth lowest in the country, just ahead of Leitrim (where the average three-bed semi is €129,000), Donegal, Cavan and Longford.
Roger McCarrick of REA McCarrick & Sons of Sligo and Tubbercurry said: “We are seeing that the pandemic payments prohibit some purchasers from drawing down mortgages, but the investment market continues to be strong. The shortage of supply in small towns is now evident, but market prices are still not attractive enough for building to recommence.”
Nationally, REA say that average house prices rose by almost 2% over the past three months, “despite the absence of physical viewing, in a marketplace which is seeing the lowest supply and the shortest time taken to sell in recent history”.
They say the biggest rises in price in the first three months of the year “came in commuter counties as buyers move out further from the city in preparation for long-term hybrid working situations”.
Author of the Daft.ie report, Ronan Lyons, an economist at Trinity College, Dublin, agrees that the biggest increase in prices has been in the counties closer to Dublin.
He said: “Conventional wisdom for much of last year was that Dublin would be uniquely badly affected by Covid, with long-distance commuters voting with their cars and heading for the west, where homes are much cheaper.
“But there is little evidence of any such urban-to-rural switch in the housing market. Dublin prices are up 6.9%, year-on-year, compared to increases of 4% in Munster (outside its cities) and just 2% in Connacht-Ulster (outside Galway city).
“There is perhaps more support for the notion that Dublin’s exurbs and other cities are seeing the biggest shift in demand. Prices in Leinster (outside Dublin) are up 12% year-onyear and prices in the four other cities are up between 11% and 12% in each case.” And he also believes that demand is being driven by supply. He said: “The figures in this latest Daft.ie report confirm that the impact of Covid-19 on the sale market was a massive shock to supply, with seemingly far less impact on demand.
“The total number of homes listed for sale in the 12 months to February nationwide was just 45,700, down a third on the previous 12-month period.
“This sudden collapse in supply – at a time when demand has held up remarkably well – has converted into sharp upward pressure on prices. It highlights the importance of supply in determining market outcomes and is a reminder that, even when the pandemic subsides, the need for a substantial volume of new homes to be built each year will remain.” He said the average price of a home nationally is now €233,000, 63% above its lowest point.The average national listed price of housing rose by 7.6% in the year to March 2021,
REA say the price of a three-bedroomed semi-detached house across the country rose by almost €4,500 over the past three months to €243,603 – representing an annual increase
of 3.6%.