House prices in Louth rise by €10k

Property prices in Louth have risen by €3,000 during the quarter, according to the latest MyHome.ie Property Price Report, released today.

The report for Q2 2024, in association with Bank of Ireland, shows that the median asking price for a property in the county is now €250,000. This means prices have risen by €10,000 compared with this time last year.

Asking prices for a three-bed semi-detached house in the county stayed flat over the quarter at €250,000. This means that prices in the segment are up by €5,000 compared to this time last year.

Meanwhile, the asking price for a four-bed semi-detached house in Louth also stayed steady over the quarter at €289,950.

This price is up by €10,450 compared to this time last year.

There were 266 properties for sale in Louth at the end of Q2 2024 – an increase of 15% 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 nearly two months.

Looking at the situation nationally, author of the report, Conall MacCoille, Chief Economist at Bank of Ireland, said that “the clear message from the Q2 2024 MyHome.ie Property Price Report is that house prices have gained further momentum.

“Asking prices rose by 5% in Q2 2024, up 7.3% on the year, the highest figure since Q3 2022. This represents an acceleration in the pace of annual asking price inflation from 6.5% in Q1 2024.

“Furthermore, the pick-up in the pace of asking price inflation has been broad based across Dublin (7.2%) and the rest of Ireland (7.6%).”

Mr MacCoille went on to say that the sustained strength of the Irish labour market was having a significant effect. “The 4.7% rise in average earnings to €50,300 in the year to Q1 2024 was always likely to push up house prices.

“Indeed, the average mortgage approval in April was €313,000, also up 4.6% on the year.” He added that the relaxation of the Central Bank mortgage lending rules for first-time buyers had seen the share of first-time buyers with a loan-to-income ratio on their mortgage between 3.5x-4x leap from 6% in 2022 to 36% last year.

“The fierce competition between homebuyers has continued into the second quarter, with residential transactions in May being settled by 6% on average above the original asking price,” he said.

Another factor impacting prices is the continual poor levels of property supply in the market. “There were just 12,500 properties listed for sale at end-June, still close to the historic low in Q1 2024 and down 11% on 2023. To some extent this appears to reflect a hangover from 2023, when reports of falling house prices, stretched affordability and ECB rates led many would-be vendors to incorrectly fear demand was soft.

“This trend may reverse but will take time,” Mr MacCoille said. “The second quarter of the calendar year is particularly important for asking prices, set ahead of the busy summer trading season, before the market cools heading into the winter. The momentum in the market means a high single digit gain in the order of 5-6% for the year in full now looks likely.”

Joanne Geary, Managing Director of MyHome.ie, said: “The strength of our labour market is of course a positive thing, but without an adequate supply of properties to meet the demand generated by rising incomes, it is inevitable that competition will remain intense.”

She added, “it will take time for the growing rate of housing starts to have a real impact, but it is promising to see this figure move in the right direction.”