House prices rose by fastest rate in two years in March – CSO
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show hous prices rose at their fastest rate in two years in March of this year.
Rents are also increasing across the country. Property website, Daft.ie, found that listed monthly rents rose in the first three months of the year.
Today’s CSO’s property price index shows that home prices rose nationally by 3.7% in the year to March.
In Dublin, the increase was 2.5% while outside Dublin prices rose by 4.9%.
In Dublin, houses rose by 2.8% while the price of apartments rose by 0.7%. Outside Dublin, house prices rose by 4.5% while apartments rose by 10.4%.
Prices in Dublin have now risen 97.8% from their trough in February 2012 while prices outside Dublin have risen by 90.2% from their May 2013 low point.
The price of new dwellings in the first three months of 2021 was up 2.5% compared to the first quarter of 2020. The price of existing dwellings rose by 3.3%.
The volume of transactions is also higher, today’s CSO figures show.
There were 3,951 property purchases registered with Revenue in March. This was up 9.8% on an annual basis and up 23.3% on the number of properties registered in February.
Existing dwellings accounted for 86.3% of these properties. However, the volume of new dwelling purchases registered was down 17.5% on March 2020.
In the year to March, 32.9% of dwellings were purchased by first time buyers, 53.4% were purchases by movers and 13.6% were “non-occupiers”, which include investors and state authorities.
A total of 1,180 purchases were made by first time buyers in March of this year. This is a 2.5% decrease in the share of purchases by first time buyers compared to March 2020. They overwhelmingly bought second hand properties, accounting for 77% of purchases.
The median, or mid-point, price of dwellings nationally was €262,500. In Dublin, the median price was €390,000. In Dún Laoghaire Rathdown, the median price was €540,000.
Outside Dublin, the highest median price was in Wicklow at €358,000.
The county with the lowest median price was Longford at €113,750, today’s CSO figures show.
Trevor Grant, the Chairperson of the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisors (AIMA), said today it would not be surprising to see an acceleration in price increases over the coming months, as restrictions lift around property viewings.
Mr Grant said there is a glut of homeseekers, particularly first time buyers, who have already secured mortgage approval and are waiting in the wings to purchase a home.
He noted that demand for property has been robust throughout the pandemic, and the number of first-time-buyers looking to own their own homes is at its highest in years.
But he said the stock of properties available for sale fell by approximately 40% over the past 12 months – a direct consequence of many homeowners being reluctant to sell in the middle of a pandemic, the restrictions on house viewings and new supply being frozen by restrictions on new building projects.
“Stock for sale is now at an all-time low across the country, which is applying pressure on house prices and will continue to do so over the coming months,” Trevor Grant said.
“We really need the output of new homes to increase dramatically for the remainder of 2021 and well into 2022. Without a huge increase in the completion of new homes, we run the real risk of the increasing demand and poor supply driving house price inflation,” he added.
Article Source – House Prices rose by fastest rate in two years in March – CSO – RTE – Robert Shortt
