Asking prices for homes nationally rose by an average of 3.7% during the first three months of 2025, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report.
The study suggests the typical listed price across the country in the first quarter of the year was €346,048, which is 11.6% higher than the same time last year and 35% higher than at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It found that the current rate of inflation in the market is the second-highest seen in the ten years since mortgage market rules were introduced, exceeded only by the spike in prices seen in early 2017.
According to Daft, the surge in inflation is being driven by Dublin and the rest of Leinster.
It said inflation in the capital is now running at 12.2%, the highest rate in eight years, while in the rest of Leinster, the annual increase in prices is 13.4%, also the highest since early 2017.
The report found that Galway (13.2%) and Limerick cities (13.8%) are also seeing rates of inflation above the national average, while the rate seen in Waterford (11.2%) and Cork cities (9.2%) is slower.
Daft said the average list price for a home in Dublin is now €460,726, compared with €409,482 for Galway city, and €358,676 for Cork city.
The sharp increases in asking prices are coming at a time of very tight supply, with the study finding that the number of second-hand homes available to buy across the country on 1 March was fewer than 9,300.
This figure is down 17% year-on-year and also marks the lowest total ever recorded in a series extending back to January 2007.
Report author and economist at Trinity College Dublin Ronan Lyons said the increases are “clearly linked to the lack of second-hand supply.
“Even as transactions of newly-built homes increase, the second-hand market is at its tightest in a series going back almost two decades.
“The latest surge in inflation is due, at least in part, to the well-flagged increase in interest rates, which saw existing homeowners fix their rates, often for many years, with consequences for liquidity in the second-hand market.
“But while the increase in interest rates has played a role, the underlying issue remains the housing deficit.”
“The mortgage market rules were introduced a decade ago to prevent a repeat of the loose lending that drove Ireland’s Celtic Tiger bubble and crash. Nonetheless, prices are up 75% since then, not because of too much credit but because of too few homes,” Mr Lyons added.
Article Source – Asking prices for homes rise by average of 3.7% in first quarter – report – RTE
