The annual rate of increase in the price of homes around the country picked up further in pace in May, new data from the Central Statistics Office shows.
The CSO’s Residential Property Price Index rose by 8.2% in the 12 months to the end of May, compared to 7.9% in the year to the end of April.
It is the ninth consecutive month of annual house price growth and the highest rate of increase since November of 2022.
However, despite the rising rate of annual growth in prices nationally, they only climbed by 0.1% in May when compared to the previous month.
Property prices in Dublin were up 8.6% in the year to May, compared to 8.3% a month earlier.
Outside Dublin they were 7.8% higher in the 12 months to May, versus 7.6% in the year to April.
The median price of a home purchased in the 12 months to May was €335,000.
House prices in Dublin rose by 9.2% while apartment prices increased by 6.6%, the CSO data shows.
The most rapid rate of house price growth in the capital was in Dublin City at 10.6% while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown saw a rise of 7.7%, with the median price there at €626,000 and coming in as the highest in the country.
Dublin 6 was the most expensive Eircode, with a median price of €740,000 recorded.
Outside of Dublin, house prices were up by 7.6% and apartment prices increased by 9.9%.
The CSO said that the largest rise in house prices outside Dublin was in the mid-west at 11.2%.
The mid-east, on the other hand, saw a 6% rise.
Castlerea was the Eircode with the least expensive median price, at €137,500.
In volume terms, there were 3,997 dwellings bought by households, down by 9.9% when compared with the 4,435 purchases in May of last year, but an 11.9% increase on April.
Existing dwellings accounted for almost 81% of the total homes bought, a decrease of 10.6% compared with May of of last year.
The balance were new dwellings, a decrease of 6.5% compared with May of last year.
Nationally residential property prices are now 9.7% above their highest level at the peak of the property boom in April 2007 and have risen 144.5% since their trough in early 2013.
Commenting on the data, Trevor Grant, chairperson of Irish Mortgage Advisors, said the further increase in prices would come as a huge disappointment to the many first-time buyers who are constantly finding themselves unable to reach the point where they can finally buy a home.
“The mismatch between housing supply and demand is one of the main reasons for the continued pick-up in house price growth,” he said.
“Up to 53,000 new homes are needed in Ireland per year to cater for population growth, according to a report published by the ESRI earlier this month,” he noted.
“Current Government house building targets are well below that and while Taoiseach Simon Harris has said the Government would use the ESRI data to help it set new housing targets this autumn, given a general election has also been mooted for autumn too, house hunters will be hoping the Government delivers on any new ambitious housing targets it sets – rather than simply making election promises it reneges on,” he added.
Article Source – Property prices rise for 9th month in a row in May – CSO – RTE
