Louth house prices expected to rise 8% this year
National survey by Real Estate Alliance
The price of the average second-hand three-bed semi in Louth is predicted to increase by 8% in 2025, according to a national survey by Real Estate Alliance.
Three-bed semi-detached homes in the county now cost an average of €290,000, up 8% on the December 2023 average of €267,500, the Q4 REA Average House Price Index shows.
“We are currently seeing a shortage of property,” said Dermot Conlon of REA Gunne Property, Dundalk. Prices in Dundalk rose by 10% to €275,000 in 2024, while Drogheda prices rose 7%.
“The conveyance process is becoming lengthier and more challenging in terms of compliance certification, land boundary issues, and also delays with the Land Registry,” said Gabriel O’Brien of REA O’Brien Collins, Drogheda.
The REA Average House Price Index concentrates on the sale price of Ireland's typical stock home, the three-bed semi, giving an accurate picture of the second-hand property market in towns and cities countrywide. House prices in western counties increased at twice the rate of the east coast last year as buyers battle over the lowest supply on record, the survey found.
The absence of new home building, and historically low supply has seen three bed semi-detached homes in counties Clare, Donegal, Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo increase by over €10,000 in the past 12 weeks – with an average annual rise of 16%.
This is twice the rate of increase in commuter counties, which rose by 7.5% over 2024. The actual selling price of a three-bed, semi-detached house across the country rose by 2.1% in the past three months to €330,602, and 9% overall annually.
REA agents nationwide are predicting a 6pc rise in house prices in 2025. Actual selling prices in Dublin city rose by 1.8% in the last three months, and the average three-bed semi in the capital is now selling at €542,000.
Prices in the major cities outside the capital rose by an average of 2pc to €348,000 in the last three months – an annual rate of increase of 7.7%, with agents predicting a further 9% rise in 2025.
Homes in the country’s large towns continue to show the biggest growth nationwide, up 11.5% on last September and 2.6% this quarter to an average of €249,448. Homes in commuter counties rose by 2% over the past three months to an average of €343,778, an annual rise of 7.5%.