The Property Price Rise increases across the country picked up again in May, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The CSO’s Residential Property Price Rise Index shows an 8.2% rise in house prices over the 12 months leading up to May, slightly up from 7.9% in the year ending in April.
This marks the ninth consecutive month of annual growth in house prices, reaching the highest rate since November 2022. However, despite the annual increase, prices in May only edged up by 0.1% compared to April.
In Dublin, property prices rose by 8.6% year-on-year to May, up from 8.3% in April. Outside of Dublin, prices increased by 7.8% over the same period, compared to 7.6% in the previous month.
The median price for a home purchased in the year leading up to May was €335,000.
Breaking down the data, Property Price Rise in Dublin saw a 9.2% rise, while apartment prices went up by 6.6%. The sharpest increase in Dublin was recorded in Dublin City, with a 10.6% rise. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown saw a 7.7% increase, with a median price of €626,000, the highest in the country. The Dublin 6 Eircode area emerged as the most expensive, with a median price of €740,000.
Outside of Dublin, house prices rose by 7.6%, and apartment prices saw a 9.9% increase. The mid-west region experienced the highest growth outside the capital, with an 11.2% rise, while the mid-east saw a more modest 6% increase. Castlerea had the lowest median price at €137,500.
In terms of sales volume, 3,997 homes were bought by households in May, a 9.9% drop compared to the 4,435 purchases in the same month last year but an 11.9% increase on April’s figures. Existing homes made up nearly 81% of these purchases, a 10.6% decrease from last year, while new homes accounted for the rest, down by 6.5% year-on-year.
Nationally, residential property prices are now 9.7% higher than their peak during the property boom in April 2007 and have increased by 144.5% since the market’s low point in early 2013.
Trevor Grant, chairperson of Irish Mortgage Advisors, commented that the continued rise in prices is a significant setback for many first-time buyers struggling to enter the market. He attributed the ongoing price increases to the imbalance between housing supply and demand.
Grant highlighted a recent ESRI report indicating that Ireland needs up to 53,000 new homes annually to keep pace with population growth. He pointed out that current government targets fall short of this figure. With the possibility of a general election on the horizon, Grant urged the government to set and meet new, more ambitious housing targets rather than making empty promises.
