8 April 2024
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Property prices in Cork have stayed flat during the quarter, according to the latest MyHome.ie Property Price Report
The report for Q1 2024, in association with Bank of Ireland, shows that the median asking price for a property in the county is still €285,000. This means prices have risen by €10,000 compared with this time last year.
Asking prices for a 3-bed semi-detached house in the county rose by €2,500 over the quarter to €287,500. This means that prices in the segment rose by €7,500 compared to this time last year.
Meanwhile, the asking price for a 4-bed semi-detached house in Cork rose by €5,000 over the quarter to €380,000. This price is up by €42,525 compared to this time last year.
There were 1,355 properties for sale in Cork at the end of Q1 2024 – a decrease of 6% over the quarter.
The average time for a property to go sale agreed in the county after being placed up for sale now stands at just over four and a half months. In the city, it is three and a half months.
National picture
The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland, said: “The message from this quarter’s MyHome.ie report is that the housing market is heating up again. MyHome asking prices rose by a solid 2% in the first quarter, with the annual inflation rate accelerating to 6.5%, its fastest pace in 18 months. Notably, Dublin – where valuations had become most stretched during the pandemic – is joining in the rebound, with annual asking price inflation of 7.2%.
“We can see that demand is particularly intense from transactional activity. The number of homebuyers (first-time-buyers and movers) rose to 44,100 in 2023, up 1.4% on 2022 and accounting for 71% of total transactions. This is the highest proportion of transactions accounted for by homebuyers since 2013. In contrast, household buy-to-let purchases fell by 9% in 2023, no doubt hurt by higher interest rates.
“It is also significant that the number of non-household transactions fell by 6.6%, to 12,300. Of late, the role of the state in purchasing homes has received much attention. However, the fact that total non-household purchases fell so sharply in 2023 must also reflect reduced demand from institutional investors in the private rented sector.
“Earlier this year we saw houses nationally being sold for 4.6% over the original asking price, at the median. This is a major change to one year ago, when the median premium was just 1%.
“Supply continues to be a concern; the number of properties listed for sale on MyHome has hit a fresh record low of 10,935 properties. This is below even the Covid-19 trough of 11,200, and down 19.5% on the year.
“It is worth noting, however, that the 63,000 residential transactions recorded in 2023 is the highest number recorded since the Property Price Register started collecting data in 2010. In absolute terms housing supply is slowly improving, but the gap with robust housing demand is growing.
“In summary, there has been no let-up in demand, and with the supply situation still difficult, it is not too surprising that house price inflation has regained momentum. We expect to see a mid-single digit rise in Irish house prices in 2024, close to 4%.”
Joanne Geary, Managing Director of MyHome.ie, said: “As always, supply continues to be a hot topic for the property market, but we are encouraged by the number of housing starts in the first two months of the year. The figure of just over 7,000 starts is up an enormous 72% on the same period in 2023. Our lack of stock is not something which will be solved overnight, but it is good to see that we are moving in the right direction.”