House prices rise by €1,000 a month in 2018
House prices rose by €1,000 a month during 2018, a report has found.
According to the latest house price report released by Irish property website, daft.ie, prices rose nationally by 5.5%.
The annual increase of 5.5% – just over €1,000 a month – was significantly smaller than increases of between 8% and 9% seen in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and marks the lowest year-end inflation rate since prices bottomed out in 2013.
In Dublin, prices rose by 2.9% this year, compared to an increase of 11.7% in 2017.
In the other cities, however, inflation in housing prices in 2018 was comparable to 2017.
Inflation in Waterford city held steady at 8.6%, while in Limerick inflation picked up – increases of 9.8% in 2018 versus 6.9% in 2017.
The number of properties available to buy on the market nationwide rose by 10% during 2018.
There were more than 23,500 properties for sale in December 2018, compared to 21,200 a year earlier.
This is the first year-end increase in availability in a decade, whereas earlier in the year the increase was being driven entirely by Dublin – where availability is up 40%.
Better availability has now spread to other parts of the country, including other cities and the rest of Leinster and Munster.
The hope for the housing system is that the building of new homes continues to increase.
Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the report, said: “During the 2000s bubble and crash, the laws of supply and demand were secondary in the housing market to credit market shocks.
“Not least because of the Central Bank’s mortgage rules, the market this decade has returned to the more fundamental drivers of supply and demand.
“Since 2013, demand has been strong but supply weak. The increase in homes being built – especially estate houses – in the last 18 months, though, has helped cool down inflation, in particular in the greater Dublin area, where construction activity is focused.
“The hope for the housing system is that the building of new homes continues to increase, and to spread to other urban areas.”
Martin Clancy from the Irish property website said: “Interest and demand in the property market continues to grow.
“We are now seeing over 1,000 property searches taking place every minute on Daft.ie.”
