At least one in seven properties sell above asking price as market remains strained 

Last week, in the aftermath of the budget announcement, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that close to 40,000 homes will be completed by the end of 2024. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

At least one in seven properties in Ireland are currently selling for 20% or more above the asking price, according to new figures.

The latest MyHome.ie property price report states that national asking prices are currently up 7.5% over the year, the highest rate of annual inflation seen in two years.

The quarterly report meanwhile further notes that Ireland would need an additional 206,000 homes this year alone in order to match Britain’s housing to population ratio.

That compares with the 138,000 such homes Ireland needed in 2020 in order to match the UK, showing that the strained nature of Ireland’s housing market is spiralling at pace.

Last week, in the aftermath of the budget announcement, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that close to 40,000 homes will be completed by the end of 2024, demonstrating that while construction levels are increasing at pace, they remain some distance away from matching the country’s needs.

The report records the median asking price for a property nationally as being €365,000, up 7.5% year on year. The median refers to the middle figure in a row of numbers sorted from top to bottom, as opposed to the average.

In Dublin the asking price figure is €455,000, up 6.2% on the same figure 12 months previously.

Outside Dublin, median asking prices are €315,000, up 8.5% on the year, showing that there is a deal of growth to be seen yet in the housing market outside Dublin.

The overall increase in prices nationwide is the highest it has been since the third quarter of 2022, when it stood at 7.8%.

Nationally, properties are being sold for 7% over their asking prices on average, with one in seven dwellings settling for at least 20% more than what the property is being advertised for.

Author of the report and Bank of Ireland chief economist Conall MacCoille said that “perhaps the most striking” aspect of the latest report is the growth in the country’s population, which is shown as being up 1.9% for a second successive year, to 5.38m people in 2024, with Mr MacCoille stating that rapid growth means “the housing market is being put under intense pressure”.