House prices enjoy resurgence across country

Average price of homes increased in almost every county, with the national average now standing at €164,000, writes Seán McCárthaigh

The property market in the first half of 2015 saw dramatic growth, with sales activity and house prices soaring ahead of last year’s figures — especially outside Dublin where prices are up by over 11% on average.

An analysis of the Residential Property Price Register (RPPR) shows the resurgence, confined to the capital in recent years, is now occurring in most parts of the country.

The average price of homes increased in almost every county, with the national average now standing at €164,000 — an annual rise of 10%.

The increase in average prices nationally over the past 12 months is €15,000, up from €149,000 in June 2014.

Excluding property prices in Dublin, the national average is up 11% to €125,000 — an increase of €12,500 over a 12-month period.

The hike in the average prices of homes sold in Dublin between January and June this year is more modest at 5.4% — up €13,500 to €262,500 — reflecting how the property market outside the capital is driving most of the growth in house prices.

The only two counties to record a slight decrease in average prices so far this year are Offaly and Sligo.

Although property prices are still not back at levels seen before the economic downturn, they are now at their highest peak since 2011 in many regions.

The findings confirm figures published last week by the Banking and Payments Federation which showed that the number of mortgages being drawn down in 2015 to date, had risen sharply compared to last year.

Further signs of renewed activity in the construction sector were also evident, with more than 3,000 new homes sold in the first six months of the year compared to just over 2,000 in the same period last year.

More than a third of all new houses and apartments were sold in Dublin.

The RPPR shows that 21,148 new and second-hand homes were bought in the first half of this year — a 38% increase — with more than 5,800 more properties sold than in the corresponding period in 2014 when 15,342 sales were recorded.

The current level of activity in the property market is now three times greater than it was four years ago. Less than 7,200 properties were sold in the first half of 2011.

The growth in the value of all properties sold between January and June this year is even more pronounced with the total value of the market worth €4.58bn. It represents a 45% jump on the €3.17bn value of all sales in the same period during 2014. The half-yearly value of residential property sales in 2011 was just €1.68bn.

An analysis by the Irish Examiner of the RPPR, which is the official record of all residential property sales in Ireland, shows more homes were sold in every county in the first half of 2015 than in the same period last year. The value of the transactions increased more sharply in every county, with a few exceptions including Dublin, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo, and Offaly.

The analysis, however, only relates to properties sold at full price. In the case of new homes, 13.5% is added to the selling price recorded in the RPPR to reflect the true cost of the property when Vat is added.

The strongest growth in sales activity was in Limerick where the number of transactions were up 65%, with the number of houses sold up 324 to 825.

Other counties whose property markets were noticeably busier were Longford (up 58%), Kildare (up 53%), and Tipperary and Mayo (both up 48%).

Trading levels in Dublin are also booming, with the number of sales of houses and apartments in the capital up 46% — with 7,150 property sales recorded.

In Cork, 2,305 properties were sold — an extra 637 sales over the same period in 2014, representing a 38% rise, while the number of sales in Galway were up 39%, with 3,674 properties sold in the first six months of the year.

Only Wicklow, Cavan, Monaghan, and Kilkenny recorded more sluggish growth with a single-digit percentage rise in selling activity to date in 2015. Every other county witnessed the number of house sales increase by in excess of 20%.

Meanwhile, the average price of properties sold in Cavan this year is €74,500 compared to €42,000 in the first half of 2014. The 77% increase is skewed by the cheap sale of a number of apartments in the same complex in Cavan town last year.

Other big percentage increases have been recorded in Monaghan (up 35% to €100,000); Kilkenny (up 29% to 135,000), and Carlow (up 22% to €120,000).

In Cork the median price of properties has increased by 10%, or €15,000, to €160,000, while in Waterford it surged ahead by 13% — up over €12,300 to €107,300.

The pace of growth in average prices was more sluggish in Limerick and Galway. The median price of homes sold in Limerick up to June rose by just under 6%, or around €5,800, to €110,000, while in Galway they rose by a similar percentage — up €7,500 to €140,000.

The cheapest housing in the country is still found in Longford where the median price of homes is still under €60,000 — although the figure is somewhat skewed by the sale of 12 apartments in the same complex in Longford for less than €7,000 each.

The average price of housing is still below €100,000 in several counties including Mayo, Tipperary, Donegal, Cavan, Leitrim, and Offaly.

Meanwhile, the analysis of the RPPR also reveals that a total of 221 properties in the Republic were sold for a price in excess of €1m in the six months to the end of June. The figure was 159 over the same period last year.

The most expensive transaction was the sale of an 80-apartment complex, Dundrum View in south Dublin, for just over €28m to property company, Hibernia Reit.

The former luxury home of Tony O’Reilly at Castlemartin House in Kilcullen, Co Kildare fetched the highest price for a single property at €26.5m. The 750-acre estate was bought by John Malone, a US billionaire behind the UPC-owned Liberty Global.