29 September 2018
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Property prices in Cork have risen by €10,000 in the last year, according to the latest MyHome.ie Property Report in association with Davy.
The report for Q3 2018 shows that the median asking price for a property in the county now stands at €240,000. This is up €5,000 or 2.1% from the previous quarter and €10,000 or 4.4% from this time last year.
This means that the asking price for a home in Cork is now at its highest level since it stood at €245,000 in Q1 2011.
The asking price for a home in Cork City remained unchanged in the last quarter at €250,000 but was still up 4.2% on this time last year when it stood at €240,000. This means that prices in the city remain at their highest level since standing at €265,000 exactly eight years ago in Q3 2010.
The rise in prices was reflected in the asking price for a 3-bed semi-detached house in the county, which rose by 2.2% in the last quarter from €230,000 to €235,000. Annually this is also up 4.4% on 12 months ago when prices stood at €225,000.
The asking price for a 4-bed semi-detached house in Cork remained also rose by 1.8% in the last quarter from €285,000 to €290,000. Annually this is also up 4.5% on 12 months ago when prices stood at €277,475.
The number of properties for sale in Cork on MyHome.ie has increased by 5.9% in the last quarter and is also up 13.2% from where it was this time last year.
The average time to go sale agreed on a property in the county now stands at 4 months in the county and 3 months in the city.
National picture
Asking prices fell by 2.5% in Dublin in the third quarter and by a more modest 0.8% nationally, according to the latest residential property price report from MyHome.ie<http://myhome.ie>.
According to the report, which is published in association with Davy, the annual rate of inflation for newly listed properties nationally is now 5.9% while it’s just 2.2% in Dublin, the slowest pace of increase in two years.
This means the median asking price for new sales nationally is €268K down €2K from the last quarter while the price in Dublin is €375K, down €9K. Newly listed properties are seen as the most reliable indicator of future price movements.
The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, Chief Economist at Davy, said asking price inflation has slowed as expectations for future growth have been reined in.
“The double-digit price inflation we experienced earlier this year was simply not sustainable and the slowdown we predicted earlier this year has now materialised. While the magnitude of the drop this quarter may be surprising, some of the quarterly decline may be seasonal, reflecting typically weaker prices at the end of a busy summer trading season.”
“Some also may be temporary as it was always likely that house price inflation in Dublin would slow following the tightening of the Central Bank mortgage lending rules. These rules were aimed at preventing buyers reacting to stretched affordability by over borrowing, and they have been successful in this regard. Interestingly the MyHome data indicates that the slowdown is still concentrated in the most expensive property types and locations. For example, the median asking price for one-bedroom apartments was up 11% in the year to Q3 2018 to €200K. In contrast median prices for four-bedroom detached homes were flat on the year at €650K.”
The report highlighted a pick-up in homebuilding activity. In the 12 months to June 2018 completions equalled 16,300, already well ahead of the 14,446 recorded in 2017. In total planning permissions for 26,750 units have been granted in the 12 months to June.
Angela Keegan, Managing Director of MyHome.ie<http://myhome.ie> said the increase in homebuilding was beginning to feed through to improved stock levels.
“There were 22,658 residential properties listed for sale on MyHome.ie in September, up 6% on last year. This is the second consecutive quarter in which the stock listed for sale has increased, breaking the downward trend over the past six years.”
“We are also seeing an increase in transaction figures. The Property Price Register indicates that 34,706 properties have been sold so far this year and we estimate this represents a 6% growth in transaction volumes, although the register is not yet fully up to date. We believe the total figure of transactions for the year will be close to 60,000, which would be an increase of around 9%.”
“The average time to sale agreed continues to decline – nationally its 3.5 months, down from 3.8 months previously. In Dublin it’s steady at 2.9. This is consistent with higher transaction levels rather than a result of any slowdown in the housing market” Ms Keegan said.
Full details of the report can be found at www.myhome.ie/reports
