Average house prices rise €21,000 nationally over 12 months to June

New CSO figures show Dublin homeowners who bought in the bust will have seen their property almost double in value

Property price growth eased in June, with house prices advancing by 12 per cent, down from 12.4 per cent in May and 13.3 per cent in April.

The latest increase means that the typical homeowner will have seen the value of their property increase by about €21,000 nationally over the 12 months to June. Homeowners in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown will have seen about €47,000 added.

It also means that someone who bought a house in Dublin back in the middle of the property crash, February 2012, will have now seen the value of their house almost double in value.

According to latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), property prices in Dublin rose by 9 per cent in the year to end-June. The prices of house lagged this increase, advancing by 8.4 per cent, while apartment prices soared by 12.8 per cent.

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Dublin city saw the greatest increases at 12 per cent. In south Dublin, house price growth continues to taper, climbing by just 5.9 per cent over the same period.

Across the State, and excluding Dublin, prices were up 15.2 per cent, with house prices rising by 14.6 per cent and apartments by 20.3 per cent. Prices in the mid-west advanced by a hefty 22.3 per cent, but in the Border region growth has stalled, with an increase of 4.9 per cent reported.

The latest figures mean that house prices nationally are now 19.5 per cent lower than their peak in 2007, while in Dublin prices are 22.2 per cent lower than their February 2007 peak. Across the rest of the State, prices are 24.2 per cent off their May 2007 peak.

While prices may still be some way off Celtic Tiger highs, they have rebounded substantially. From the trough in early 2013, figures from the CSO show that prices nationally have increased by 79.6 per cent, with Dublin prices almost doubling, up by 92.7 per cent from their February 2012 lows. Across the rest of the State, prices are now almost 75 per cent higher than the low reached in May 2013.

Median prices

The median prices of a home in the Republic is now €237,000, with the highest median price reported in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (€ 525,000), and the lowest in Longford (€92,000) and Leitrim (€95,000).

The figures also show that property sales fell in June, down by 2.7 per cent on the year from June 2017, to 3,349 transactions. The total value of the market, based on transactions filed in May, was € 976.5 million, indicating an average sale price of €291,579.

Most of the house sales were for second-hand homes (79.7 per cent), although there was a significant increase in the volume of new home sales, which advanced by 20.8 per cent in the period. Second-hand sales fell by 7.3 per cent.

Purchases by first-time buyers in June rose almost 10 per cent when compared with June 2017, and now account for about 30 per cent of all sales in the year to date. Those trading up or down account for 51.6 per cent and investors 19 per cent.

Fiona Reddan

Fiona Reddan

Fiona Reddan is a writer specialising in personal finance and is the Home & Design Editor of The Irish Times