Tag Archives: dublin
Property asking prices in Ireland rebound at start of 2016
The residential property market in Ireland is set to rebound in 2016 as price momentum has already been growing in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest survey report. But Dublin is likely to lag behind the rest of the country according to the latest house price survey from MyHome.ie. The data shows that having declined towards the end of 2015, asking prices for newly listed properties for sale rose by 2.1% nationally and by 0.9% in Dublin in the first quarter of 2016, the first gain in Dublin since the first half of 2015 and follows two quarters where prices declined marginally. The report predicts Irish house price inflation will register another solid gain of close to 5% in 2016, with the rest of the country leading Dublin, due to affordability constraints in the capital. The mix adjusted asking price for new sales nationally is €220,000, an increase of €5,000 compared to the final quarter of 2015 while the corresponding figure for Dublin is €315,000, an increase of €2,600. The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, chief economist at Davy, said a key factor supporting house prices this year will be a tighter housing market and he pointed out that the stock of properties listed for sale on the MyHome website in the first quarter fell to a fresh low of 21,650, down 6% on the year. ‘Despite popular opinion, the immediate impact of the Central Bank lending rules was to make it easier to buy as sellers anticipated the slowdown in Dublin house prices and decided to bring their properties to the market in 2015,’ said MacCoille. ‘This won’t be repeated this year while housing supply in the capital is likely to pick up less sharply through the summer months. This is because the ambitious goals set under the last government’s Construction 2020 strategy are unlikely to be attained with no stable coalition yet formed for the new Dail. Overall, home building levels look set to remain depressed for some time and while this will support Irish house prices, it will hurt activity levels,’ he added. The report’s analysis of the Property Price Register indicates that Dublin and the commuter belt counties last year accounted for 75% of transactions that exceeded €220,000, the threshold below which lenders require a 10% deposit. Of the 48, 374 residential property market transactions recorded in 2015, just 35% or 16,893 exceeded €220,000. Of these Dublin accounted for 60% or 9,987. Put another way 59% of Dublin transactions exceeded the €220,000 threshold, whereas outside of the commuter counties just 17% of transactions, or 4,300, exceeded that mark. ‘The Central Bank mortgage lending rules have prevented households from reacting to the lack of housing supply by taking on ever more highly leveraged loans and bidding up house prices further. However our analysis shows this has been mainly a Dublin/commuter belt phenomenon where the lack of housing supply is most severe and affordability… Continue reading
Irish property prices up 8% year on year but start of 2016 sees growth slowing
Residential property prices in Ireland increased by 8% in the year to February 2016, up from 7.6% in January and an increase of 14.9% recorded in the 12 months to February 2015. The data from the Central Statistics Office also shows, however, that month on month ere was no change in prices compared with a decrease of 0.5% recorded in January and a decrease of 0.4% recorded in February of last year. A breakdown of the figures show that in Dublin prices decreased by 0.1% in February and were 4% higher than a year ago. House prices decreased by 0.3% in the month and were 4% higher compared to a year earlier while apartment prices were 4.3% higher when compared with the same month of 2015. Property prices in the Rest of Ireland rose by 0.1% in February compared with no change in February of last year and were 11.5% higher than in February 2015. It means that house prices in Dublin are 35.1% lower than at their highest level in early 2007 and apartment prices are 40.9% lower than they were in February 2007. Prices in the rest of Ireland are 35.2% lower than their highest level in September 2007 and overall the national index is 33.8% lower than its highest level in 2007. Meanwhile, the latest data from Myhome.ie shows that house prices continued to rise in the first quarter of 2016 but the rate of increase has moderated. The national mix adjusted asking price measure rose by 2.2%, in the first three months, up 5.7% year on year while in Dublin asking prices were up 2.5% and 12.7% respectively. According to the survey the mix adjusted asking price for a house nationally is €198,000 while in Dublin it is €276,000. For new instructions the median price in Dublin has risen 1.4% in the first quarter to €299,000 while outside Dublin the figure has risen 6.3% to €169,000. The author of the report, economist Conall MacCoille from Davy, said the moderation in house price inflation was a positive development and did not mark a period of sustained declines. ‘A mix of factors probably explains the recent moderation in house price growth. First of all affordability was becoming stretched in Dublin. Secondly the Central Bank’s new lending rules may have reined in exuberant price expectations. Thirdly the end of capital gains tax exemptions may have inflated demand mid-year, leading to price falls towards the end of last year,’ he explained. The affordability index shows that house price to income ratio is highest in Dublin and Mid Leinster at 5.9 and 4.9 respectively while the midlands at 2.8 and the mid-west at 3.4 looks most affordable. MacCoille explained that the figure for the country as a whole is five and although Irish property prices are still well below 2007 peak levels, they no longer look cheap relative to incomes he said and he believes that population increases and supply constraints will… Continue reading
Research reveals few homes for sale in London under UK average
Affordability is a major issue for Londoners with new research showing that more than a quarter of boroughs don’t have a single home for sale less than the country average of £191,812. Indeed, average London property prices currently stand at around £530,409 and in nine out of 32 London boroughs, 28%, it is impossible to find a property with an asking price under the Land Registry average. The figures from online estate agents House Simple show that Bexley is the only borough where you can buy a property for less than £100,000, with a studio flat currently on the market for just £94,995 while in Tower Hamlets there are no properties on the market for less than £250,000. The research also found that just four or 12.5% London boroughs have property where the buyer would not pay stamp duty with the threshold kicking in at £125,000. In almost half of the boroughs, the most affordable property for sale today is a studio flat, which are typically just 100 to 110 square feet in size compared to the average UK one bed flat which measures 495 square feet. ‘These figures reveal how desperate the plight is for ordinary Londoners on average salaries, hoping to buy their first property. How can they feasibly afford to buy when average property prices in the Capital are over £530,000?’ said Alex Gosling, House Simple’s chief executive officer. ‘Although this research reveals there are properties for sale below the UK’s average house price, the pickings are extremely slim and you’re getting very little square footage for your money. It’s a studio or nothing in many boroughs,’ he pointed out. ‘It’s not surprising that more and more people are starting to move out of London for value. Why pay £200,000 for a studio flat when you can buy a house for the same money just an hour commute away. It’s likely in the future we will see less and less people putting their first foot on the property ladder in London,’ he added. Continue reading
