Dublin house sales – risers and fallers. What’s happening in your postcode?

Dublin’s residential property market rocketed ahead in the first half of the year, as sales tipped past the € 3 billion mark, and transaction levels rose by 11 per cent. But activity levels varied across the city, while supply constraints are likely to remain a concern into the end of the year.

According to a new survey from property portal Myhome.ie, which tracked sales on the Property Price Register across the capital in the six months to June 30th, despite the supply crunch, transactions in Dublin rose in the first half of the year by 11 per cent to 7,461.

Close to 300 houses in Dublin sold for €1million or more during the period, while the highest price paid for a house in Dublin in the first six months of the year was €8.45m spent on Fintragh at 11 Shrewsbury Road in Dublin 4.

Angela Keegan, managing director of Myhome.ie, said the sharp uptick in transactions was a welcome development.

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“We badly need it,” she said, adding that expectations are now that there will be 55,000 sales across the country in 2017, up by 17 per cent on 2016. However, the supply of stock remains a huge issue.

“We are seeing some pick-up, but it’s a small and it’s being absorbed very, very quickly. We are seeing an increase in the number of new developments coming on but we need more,” she said, adding that this crunch on supply is factoring through to price growth.

“I absolutely think more stock would certainly help to curtail price rises,” Ms Keegan said.

Indeed, despite the mixed properties on sale this year and last, prices also rose substantially during the period, up by 14.6 per cent to €3 billion. This compares with €2.6 billion in the same period in 2016, €2.4 billion for 2015 and €1.7 billion for 2014.

Busiest postcode

The survey also shows that Dublin 15 was the busiest postcode in Dublin, accounting for 10 per cent of all activity in the first half of the year.

Sales in the area, which includes Castleknock, Clonsilla and Carpenterstown, rose by 20 per cent to 751 in the first half of the year, as putative homeowners flocked to live close to the M50, Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and the multitude of multinationals that are located there.

But despite the flurry in transactions, price growth was also strong during the period, with the price of all properties sold during the six months to June 30th rising by 28 per cent to €246 million, with an average sale price of €327,977. There were nine sales for €1 million-plus in the area.

Local agent Patrick Molloy, of Blanchardstown-based Molloy Estates, attributed much of the activity to the sale of new developments, pointing to three in the Carpenterstown area, including Bracken Park and Hamilton Park. Indeed, figures from Myhome.ie show that there were 40 sales in the Royal Canal Park development and a further 40 sales in Barnwell at Hansfield, while the variety of property types on sale in the area, ranging from apartments to family homes to larger detached properties, appeal to different buyers.

However, while demand remains strong in the area, Mr Molloy said many of these new developments are now sold out. Unsurprisingly then, selling times in the area are tight.

“You could sell a house in a week,” Mr Molloy said, but adds that “it could also take three to four months”.

As prices have risen, Mr Molloy cautioned that some vendors’ expectations have become unrealistic. He has noted of late some properties taking longer to sell in the area, with certain properties pitched too high, and the sale price is then chased down, as opposed to originally pitching at a realistic price to begin with.

Rent levels

He expressed fears a dip may be coming, with current levels of rents simply “unsustainable”.

“If I had my investor’s hat on I wouldn’t go out and spend my money at the moment,” he said.

While Dublin 15 is the busiest area, Dublin 20 reported the lowest number of sales during the six months, at just 56; but with such a low level of transactions, sale prices soared. The average price advanced by 60 per cent to €334,650 over the six months, and the total spend on properties soared by 90 per cent to €18 million. The sale of two seven-figure properties – The White House on Strawberry Beds, which achieved its asking price of € 1.1 million, and Leitrim Lodge in Chapelizod, a Georgian lodge which sold for € 1.3 million – partly fuelled the increase.

In Dublin 4, both volumes and values fell by a dramatic 46 per cent and 24 per cent respectively, but this could be primarily attributed to an apartment block sale at Elm Park in the previous period, rather than anything more fundamental. It was also the most expensive postcode during the period, with an average sale price of €890,450, up by 42 per cent on the same period in 2016, followed by Dublin 6 (up by 9.3 per cent) at €740,512. The largest sale recorded in Dublin 4 was the €33.5 million sale of the Montrose Student Residence on the Stillorgan Road.

Least expensive property

Cheapest areas to buy in include Dublin 10, encompassing areas such as Ballyfermot, where the average price, based on 65 transactions, was €153,347, (up by 15 per cent) followed by Dublin 17, where there were 13 sales apiece in Coolock and Larch Hill in Santry, where the average price was €179,648. Dublin 1 was home to some of the cheapest transactions during the period, with five apartments on Buckingham Street selling for €10,000 each.

The city centre also saw a big increase in values, with the average price of a property in Dublin 2 rocketing ahead by 50 per cent to €498,442, based on 146 sales, up by 8.1 per cent on 2016. While apartment sales were steady – nine apartments at Park House on Benson Street were sold, ranging from €300,000 to €445,000, there were also some big-ticket sales, with 13 sales in the €1 million-plus category. The stand-out of these was €7.75 million paid for 1 Alexander Court at 25 Upper Pembroke Street, a scheme of 23 apartments, for a little less than its €8million asking price.

The biggest drop in average sale prices was reported in Dublin 24, encompassing Tallaght and Firhouse, although this is largely due to the sale for some €64 million of apartment blocks in Tallaght Cross West in 2016. The average sale price fell by 46 per cent to €252,026, with no stand-out sale to boost the averages. Indeed, the priciest sale in the area during the period was €478,000 recorded for 51 Monalea Wood in January.