Revealed: Most expensive places in the State to buy property

The most expensive area in the State in which to buy property is Sandycove in south Dublin, where the average valuation is almost €790,000, according to Daft.ie’s wealth report.

The house price report, which combines information from the Daft.ie archives with data from the Residential Property Price Register, also found that property prices in Foxrock and Mount Merrion are in excess of €750,000.

The most expensive markets outside the main cities are Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, at an average of €495,000; Kinsale, Co Cork, where property will set you back €309,000; and Kinvara, Co Galway, where you can expect to pay €257,000.

The cheapest market in the State is Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, where the average property value is just €58,000.

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Data from the Property Price Register suggests that as many as 1 per cent of all homes in the State are worth €1 million.

The most expensive property transaction to date in 2017 is the €8.4 million paid for Fintragh of Shrewsbury Road, according to the report. The Property Price Register has details of 800 million euro sales since the start of 2016 – a figure that averages 12 every week.

More than two-thirds of Irish households own the home they live in, and the majority of dwellings have six-figure valuations. The average property nationwide was worth €230,000 in the first quarter of 2017.

This is substantially less than the average home was worth 10 years ago – €370,000 – but it is also 40 per cent higher than the value of the average home just five years ago, when the figure stood at €165,000.

South county Dublin is the most expensive market in the State, with an average property value of almost €550,000. Dublin 6, Dublin 4 and Dublin 6W also have average property values over €500,000, while Dublin 14 rounds out the top five.

The cheapest five markets in the State are concentrated in the north-west. In Longford, the average property value is €117,000, while in Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon and Mayo, property values are also €140,000 or less.

Previously less fashionable parts of Dublin – in particular Dublin 10 and Dublin 1 – have seen their rank rise over the past five years.

Dublin 10 was the fourth cheapest part of the State but has risen 16 places and is now the 35th most expensive market. Similarly, Dublin 1 has gone from 33rd most expensive market to 22nd.

The gainers are not limited to Dublin. Counties Kilkenny, Wexford and Westmeath have all risen by seven places in the last five years and are now ranked the 30th, 34th and 38th most expensive markets respectively.

As some parts of the State rose in the rankings, others dropped. Dublin 17 fell 11 places to 28th while a number of counties in rural Munster also saw falls. Kerry, Limerick county, and Tipperary all fell 10 places to 39th, 42nd and 46th, while Waterford county fell from 27th to 33rd.

‘Property millionaires’

The wealth report estimates that there are more than 3,800 “property millionaires” in the State, ranging from the owners of four-bed semi-detached properties in Sandycove to the owners of five-bed detached homes in Clontarf.

The Price Register also pinpoints Ireland’s most expensive streets. Looking at residential transactions of €3 million or more over the last 18 months, there are five streets that have seen a number of homes sell for such amounts.

Both Shrewsbury Road and Ailesbury Road have had three homes sell for at least €3 million in the last 18 months. So too has Temple Gardens, just off Palmerston Road in Dublin, while Westminster Road in Foxrock came in fifth.

But the street with the highest number of million euro deals is Herbert Park in Ballsbridge, which has seen no fewer than five properties change hands for €3 million or more in the last 18 months.

All told, Ireland’s 1.7 million occupied homes are worth almost €400 billion. This suggests that a local property tax of 0.18 per cent of the value of all homes should be bringing in €700 million a year for the exchequer.

The report's author, Trinity College economist Ronan Lyons, said property forms the "biggest chunk" of Irish wealth, providing a natural source of funding for public services that are tied to particular locations, such as schools.

“What is clear from the figures published in this report is that housing wealth is concentrated in urban areas,” he said. “By connecting this with information on public spending, it is possible to see whether all areas are getting their fair share of public monies.”