New analysis of Property Price Register for first half of 2018 shows modest increase in number of sales but substantial rise in value of sales

New analysis of Property Price Register for first half of 2018 shows modest increase in number of sales but substantial rise in value of sales

Main Findings:

• Nationally house sales are up 3.6% while the value of transactions is up 18%

• In Dublin the number of sales is up 8%

• MyHome expects number of sales this year to rise by up to 9% to 60,000

Saturday Sept 22^nd 2018. A new study based on an analysis of the Property Price Register shows that the number of sales nationally has increased by 3.6% in the first half of 2018, compared to the same period last year.

The study, which was carried out by leading property website MyHome.ie, shows that there were 24,448 sales nationally in the first half of the year.  The value of those transactions also increased substantially, rising from €6.04bn to €7.11bn, an increase of 18%.

While the number of sales rose in sixteen counties, fell in nine and remained unchanged in one, the amount of money spent on property in each county was up in all but three counties - Louth, Monaghan and Clare.

While the falls in the number of sales in many counties were low or even marginal, there were sizable falls in Monaghan (21.7%), Kilkenny (9.5%), Cavan (9.2%) and Clare (7.4%).

Dublin, which is responsible for around a third of the property market, led the way in the first six months of the year with 8,187 sales – an increase of 8% on the 7,582 sales recorded for the same period last year. However, the value of sales in the capital rose by a substantial 26% to €3.8bn from €3.01bn.

The capital was followed by Cork with 2,532 sales, Kildare 1,250, Galway 1,094 with Meath 1,056 and Limerick 901 making the top six.

According to the PPR there were 335 €1m plus sales in Dublin in the first half of the year. While 16 of the top 17 sales were for apartment blocks, the biggest one-off property sale was Inniscorrig, Coliemore Road, Dalkey in May for €7.8m. There were six €1m plus sales in Kildare and five in Meath.

Overall there were 21 sales of €1m plus in Cork with the largest one-off property sale being San Paula on Orchard Road for €1.9m in January.

Angela Keegan, Managing Director of MyHome.ie, said the increase in sales was welcome.

“In 2017 there were around 55,000 residential sales. The bad weather caused a lot of disruption early in the year but with sales continuing to pick up we believe the total number of sales in 2018 will be close to 60,000, an increase of 9%. To put this in context there are around two million residential properties in Ireland and in a normal functioning market you’d expect to see 5% or 100,000 properties changing hands annually. Clearly we still have some way to go but we are moving in the right direction.”

“The increase in the value of sales is being driven by the sale of a number of major developments as well as the double-digit price inflation we have seen recently in Dublin and around the country. MyHome’s latest property report indicates prices are now cooling due to the lending controls introduced by the Central Bank which is also positive” she said.

“While the rise in sales in the commuter belt was a big part of the story in the first six months of last year, it’s interesting to see the counties recording the biggest percentage increase in sales this year include Carlow (18.5%), Roscommon (14.6%), Laois (13.5%), Waterford (11.8%) and Donegal (9%). Not surprisingly some of these counties also feature prominently in the list of counties where the value of sales rose the most. This trend probably reflects the fact that the recovery is spreading to other parts of the country while it also indicates some people may be moving out beyond the commuter belt due to affordability issues” Ms Keegan said.

The counties with the lowest number of sales were Monaghan (162), Longford (201), and Leitrim (214).

As noted the most money by some margin was spent in Dublin - €3.8bn, followed by Cork on €662m and Kildare on €353m. The least - €19.3m - was spent in Longford.

Ends.