Business

Dublin resale house price inflation rises by 1.9% since start of year

Buoyant demand and scant housing stock push up cost of second-hand homes

'Competitive bidding for available properties due to a lack of stock has resulted in prices being pushed upwards, particularly for properties in walk-in condition with good energy-efficiency ratings,' says Keith Lowe of DNG Group. Photograph: George Clerk

Ian Curran
Fri Mar 29 2024 - 06:00

The pace of resale property price inflation in Dublin accelerated in the first three months of the year with second-hand homes selling for 6 per cent above the asking price on average, a new report from DNG Group has indicated.

Buoyant demand coupled with low levels of available housing stock continue to push up the price of second-hand homes, “particularly at the entry level”, the property adviser said on Friday.

Resale property prices increased by 1.9 per cent in the first three months of 2024 from the fourth quarter of 2023, DNG said. It means the rate of price increase has more than doubled from 0.9 per cent over the same period in 2023.

On an annual basis, prices across all locations in Dublin have increased by an average of 4.3 per cent over the past 12 months, according to the report, compared with a rate of 2 per cent in the same period last year. Prices jumped 3.3 per cent in the 2023 calendar, so the pace has picked up again in the first quarter of 2024.

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“Competitive bidding for available properties due to a lack of stock has resulted in prices being pushed upwards, particularly for properties in walk-in condition with good energy-efficiency ratings,” said Keith Lowe, chief executive of DNG Group.

“Our research shows that, during the first three months this year, sales of homes across the capital were, on average, agreed at 6 per cent above the quoted asking price, indicating the strength of demand in the market at the present time.”

The strongest rate of price growth was recorded in west Dublin in the three months to the end of March, DNG said. Prices there increased by 3.7 per cent in the first quarter compared with rates of just 1.6 per cent on the southside of the city and 1.4 per cent on the northside.

Paul Murgatroyd, director of research at DNG, said it was “no surprise” to see prices increase in west Dublin, where stock levels are low but first-time buyers are active at the “starter home level”.

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“Strong demand, particularly at the entry level to the Dublin market, combined with the very low stock of available second-hand homes for sale, resulted in an uplift in prices during the first quarter of the year, as buyers competed for the limited supply of homes for sale,” he said.

“First-time buyers remain the most dominant players in the resale homes market at present, accounting for over half of purchases in the second-hand market during the first quarter of the year in the capital.”

Apartment prices, meanwhile, jumped 1.3 per cent in the first quarter, the largest quarterly increase in this segment since 2022, DNG said.

Separate research published by property agent Sherry FitzGerald earlier this week indicated that second-hand house prices had jumped by 2 per cent nationally between January and March and were up by 5.1 per cent on an annual basis. In January, just 11,050 second-hand properties were listed for sale, according to the report, representing 0.6 per cent of the entire private housing stock in Ireland.

Ian Curran

Ian Curran

Ian Curran is a Business reporter with The Irish Times

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