Slight fall in house prices in Louth towards end of 2023

Average house prices in Louth saw a slight fall in the final quarter of 2023, according to the Daft.ie Irish House Price Report Q4 2023, released today.

With the average list price of a house in Louth in the final quarter of 2023 (Q3) standing at €270,888, it represents an annual increase of 0.2%, but also represents a fall of 3.6% on Q2 of 2023. 

The average list price in Louth is also 112.4% higher than it was during the recession that followed the Celtic Tiger years.

According to the latest Daft.ie house price report, the median price of a newly-built home in Louth between Q1 and Q3 of 2023, was €364,353.

The report also gives some details on average asking prices for different size homes in Louth. The biggest change in Louth was seen in one bedroom apartments. With an average asking price of €105,000, it represents an annual fall of 12.5%.

The average asking price of a two-bed terraced house in Louth stands at €153,000, which represents an annual increase of 0.1%.

Three-bed semi-detached houses in Louth have seen an annual rise in the asking price of 2.5% and now stand at €217,000, while four-bed bungalows have seen an annual fall of 1.1% in the asking price and now stand at €407,000.

The most significant annual increase in average asking prices in Louth was seen in five-bed detached houses. At €435,000, it represents an annual increase of 10.2%.

Nationally, according to Professor Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor in Economics in Trinity College Dublin, who is author of the report, over the course of 2023 the average listed price rose by 3.4%, and stands at €320,046.

Prof Lyons said that "this compares with a 6% rise during 2022 and increases of 8.1% and 7.7% in 2021 and 2020. With the exception of 2019, when prices fell by 1.2% on the back of increasing supply, it is the smallest increase in prices since 2013.

On December 1st, there were just over 11,100 homes for sale in the country. According to Prof Lyons, the figure "is very low compared to almost any point over the past 15 years. It's in line with the volume of homes for sale in the fifteen months between March 2021, when Ireland started to emerge from its heavy lockdown, to May 2022."

He continues, "But it's dramatically below, for example, even the pre-covid19 average. Between 2015 and 2019 ‐ not a period known for abundance of homes for sale ‐ there were on average almost 25,000 homes for sale.

"And secondly, in a perhaps fairer comparison with the most recent period, that total for December 1st just gone is 27% lower than on the same date a year previously. Over the course of 2023, Ireland lost over 4,000 homes from its inventory, net of new listings."

Prof Lyons goes on to say that "on the one hand, that suggests perhaps strong demand, despite everything. But in the 12 months to December 1st, the total number of homes listed for sale was a little bit over 51,000. In the preceding 12 months, it had been almost 57,000."

He adds that, "housing prices are stabilising not because supply has increased to meet demand, but instead because demand has fallen to meet it. Supply of newly built homes for purchase has certainly increased but the second-hand market, which is the larger share of the market, has been working in the other direction ‐ buffeted by changed economic conditions."