Almost one in three Irish people expect to be still repaying a mortgage come retirement, with over a third of this cohort anticipating their mortgage payments will still be “significant” at that stage, according to a new report.
The proportion of people who expect to still have a mortgage by the time they retire rises to 54 per cent among people aged 25-34, according to the report, which is based on a survey commissioned by insurance broker Gallagher in Ireland.
People living in Dublin are least likely to believe they’ll own their home outright in retirement – with just over half holding this view.
People in Dublin were also the most likely to say they’ll have a “significant” mortgage (13 per cent) in retirement compared to the national average of 9 per cent.
The recent Census highlighted the extent of the fall in homeownership rates in the Republic, with rates falling from 80 per cent in 1991 to 66 per cent in 2022.
The increase in house prices in recent decades is considered to be one of the factors which have contributed to this decrease in homeownership. House price inflation has continued to be strong in recent years, with Irish house prices now 16.8 per cent above Celtic Tiger levels.
Data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the median age of a house buyer is now 39, up from 35 in 2010. The age at which the majority of Irish householders own their dwelling outright is increasing – up from 56 years in 1991 to 59 years in 2022.
Jonathan Roche-Kelly, director of financial services for Gallagher in Ireland, said it was “worrying” that almost one in three Irish people expect to be still repaying a mortgage in retirement.
“This again could be due to today’s record house prices as well as the trend of people buying homes later in life,” he added.
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Irish homes increased in price last year at almost double the rate of 2023 as the stock of homes available in the Republic slumped to a historic low in January, two reports published last week revealed.
House prices were 8.7 per cent higher in December than a year previous, the CSO said in its latest residential property price index. It means the annual house price inflation rate practically doubled in 2024 from 2023 when prices accelerated by 4.4 per cent.
In a separate report on Wednesday, estate agency Sherry FitzGerald said the supply of available housing stock plunged to a historic low in January with just 10,380 second-hand properties listed on the market for sale.
