House price jump 2.9% in first three months of 2019

House prices in Ireland jumped by 2.9 per cent during the first three months of 2019, a report has found.

According to the latest house price report released by property website, daft.ie, the national average price was €261,000.

This is an increase of 5.9 per cent on the figure for the same period last year, an increase of €15,000 on average.

It is the twenty-second consecutive quarter that the national average price was higher than a year ago.

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In Dublin, prices in the first three months of the year were 4 per cent higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 8 per cent seen a year ago.

The average house price is now €383,000 – 74 per cent above its lowest point.

In Dublin, prices reached their lowest point in the second quarter of 2012 and have risen by an average of 74 per cent – or €163,000 – since that time.

In four Dublin postal districts, prices have doubled in that time.

Prices also rose strongly in the four other main cities, with increases of 2.5 per cent in Cork and 3.4 per cent in Galway, between December and March.

Limerick saw the largest increases of all the cities with a jump of 3.6 per cent, while outside the cities, prices rose by 2.5 per cent on average.

The number of properties available to buy on the market nationwide was just over 22,500 in March, up 11 per cent year-on-year.

Dublin-driven increase

The report found that the increase is being driven by Dublin, where availability is up 40 per cent year-on-year.

In Munster, availability is largely unchanged, while in Connacht-Ulster, stock on the market is still falling.

Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the report, said: "On the face of it, the signals from the market in early 2019 appear to be largely unchanged from recent years, with prices rising in all 54 markets, 25 parts of Dublin, the four other cities and remaining 25 counties, in the first three months of the year.

"However, in many markets, this may be just a rebound following falls in late 2018, driven in large part by the calendar-year basis of exemptions under Central Bank rules.

“The Dublin market shows a big improvement in availability and a cooling off in inflation.

“With completions set to increase in coming quarters, a period of much more moderate inflation – at least in Dublin – appears likely.”

Martin Clancy from daft.ie said: "In addition to a sharp increase in the number of properties on the market, the volume of transactions is also up across the board.

“In the year to December, there were nearly 19,000 residential property sales in Dublin alone – an increase of 4 per cent compared to the previous year.

“Likewise, we’re continuing to see strong interest on Daft.ie with over 1,000 property searches now taking place every minute across our website and mobile apps.” – PA