Dublin homes cost 13 times annual earnings, compared with six times in Belfast

New CSO analysis shows Dublin house prices are more than twice those in Belfast.

House prices in Dublin were more than double the cost of buying a home in Belfast, while earnings and disposable income in Ireland were significantly higher than those in Northern Ireland, according to new analysis.

A regional comparison published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) found that gross domestic product (GDP) in Ireland — a measure influenced by the presence of large multinationals — was almost three times higher than in Northern Ireland in 2024.

“In 2024, the median price of a house in Dublin was 13 times the median annual salary, while in Belfast it was six times the median annual salary of all employees,” CSO statistician Aoife Crowe said.

“Since 2014, the ratio of median house price to median annual earnings stayed relatively constant in Northern Ireland, however house prices significantly outpaced earnings in Ireland.”

Housing affordability gap 

The figures suggest that, in 2023-24, disposable income per person in Ireland was more than 13% higher than in Northern Ireland.

Rather than using euro or sterling values, the CSO presented the figures using Purchasing Power Standards (PPS), a measure that adjusts for differences in prices between countries.

On this basis, disposable income in Ireland stood at 21,488 per person, compared with 18,988 in Northern Ireland.

GDP per person in Ireland was 83,596, compared with 31,144 in Northern Ireland.

Even when the impact of multinational companies is removed, the Irish figure remained substantially higher at 46,428 per person.

The CSO also broke down gross annual median earnings by region. Only five counties in Ireland recorded lower earnings than Belfast, which had the highest earnings figure in Northern Ireland.

Every other region of Northern Ireland recorded lower median annual earnings than every county in the Republic.

The research is the latest comparison of economic performance north and south and the factors influencing living standards.

A study published last year by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found that household disposable income in Ireland was 18.3% higher than in Northern Ireland in 2018, with the gap widening over time.

Hourly earnings were also 36% higher in Ireland than in Northern Ireland in 2022, while the figures pointed to stronger economic growth south of the border.