Increased supply slows growth at high end of the market

Sales of properties in the €1 million-plus bracket in Dublin jumped 10 per cent in the first four months of this year, but with stock levels in the capital up 55 per cent in the same period just how well is the high end of the market performing?

According to the Property Price Register, there were 86 properties sold in the capital for above €1 million between January 1st and April 29th (when multi-unit sales were omitted). This was an increase on 78 for the same period of 2014.

However, despite this rise, the higher end of the market has lost a little ground on where it was a year ago.

Million euro-plus sales accounted for just 2.4 per cent of the 3,694 transactions in the capital so far this year, which is a slight drop on the 2.8 per cent it comprised in the first four months of 2014 when there were 2,956 sales across Dublin. That percentage gap may widen when the full transaction figures for April are added to the price register in the coming weeks.

Stock in Dublin has risen by 55 per cent in the last 12 months, with just under 5,000 properties currently for sale in the capital compared with just over 3,000 at the same stage last year. Despite greater availability of housing, it may be the case growth at the upper end is slowing.

Simon Ensor of Sherry FitzGerald insists there are many high-end transactions "in the pipeline" and expects more activity in this price bracket over the summer.

He said: “This time last year the market was quite frenetic across all sectors but particularly in the €1 million-plus category and that was not good or normal. It is estimated that a good, mature market should have high-end sales of about 3 per cent and I don’t think we’re far off that at the moment. There are a lot of sales agreed and in the pipeline but they just wouldn’t have reached the sold bracket as yet. We’ve certainly seen the effect of the strong sterling and dollar at the upper end in recent months.”

The five biggest sales in Dublin this year to date were: Strathmore House and Gate Lodge, Killiney, €7.5 million; Embassy House, 32 Burlington Road, Ballsbridge, €5.5 million; Nerano House, Dalkey, €3.2 million; Balure House, Killiney, €3.25 million; 52 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, €2.9 million.