Laois house prices soar way above pre-Covid-19 costs

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Mr Darragh O’Brien turns the sod at the Convent Site in Portlaoise in 2024.

placeholder image — Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Mr Darragh O’Brien turns the sod at the Convent Site in Portlaoise in 2024.

Laois prices down slightly in past year - Daft.ie

The cost of buying a home in Laois shows some signs of slowing but is 45% above what housebuyers could have expected to pay just before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, according to the latest figures from Daft.ie.

The new Daft.ie House Price Report shows that Laois house prices in the third quarter of 2024 were 3% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 4% seen a year ago.

While there is some sign of slowing year on year, the report also reveals that the average price of a home is now €257,000, 45% above the level seen at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report shows that the quarterly from the second quarter from April to June was 1.1% in Laois. The average price of buying a home in Laois is also the second lowest in Leinster ahead of Longford.

Housing prices nationally rose by an average of 3.1% in the third quarter of 2024. The typical listed price nationwide in the third quarter of 2024 was €344,848, 6.2% higher than in the same period a year earlier and 37% higher than at the onset of the pandemic.

The quarter two breakdown for Laois from Daft.ie is as follows:

One bed apartment €94,000 (-5.8%)
Two-bed apartment €136,000 (+2.9%)
Three-bed semi-detached home €181,000 (+2.1%)
Bungalow four bedroom €350,000 (-2.3%)
Detached five bedroom €367,000 (+5.9%)

Daft.ie says there were almost 3,000 second-hand homes for sale in Leinster (outside Dublin) on September 1st, down 16% on the same date a year ago and about half the 2015-2019 average of over 5,800.

There were just over 9,300 transactions in Laois and other Leinster counties except Dublin in the six months to March 2024, down 7% on the same period a year before.

Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor in Economics Trinity College Dublin, said not enough houses are being built.

“The figures in this latest House Price Report give further support to the suspicion that the recovery of the second-hand market in Ireland from the double hit of the early 2020s is likely to take time as the true number of homes needed each year, if the housing deficit is to be addressed is close to twice what was built last year,” he said.

A statement said the increase in prices in the third quarter was broadly based but the percentage gains were greatest in Dublin, where prices rose by 4.1% between June and September. This is the largest three-month increase in the capital since early 2017 and means that prices there are on average more than 6% higher than year ago.

Daft.ie says this means that annual inflation in Dublin is higher than the average of the other four cities for the first time since 2020: in Cork, Galway and Waterford cities, prices in the third quarter were roughly 4% higher than a year ago. Inflation in Limerick city remains higher, however, at 9.7%, while the average increase outside the cities in the year to Q3 was 6.3%. More below picture.

The Maltings apartment complex in Portlaoise have streamed many apartments onto the property market in the town.

The number of second-hand homes available to buy nationwide on September 1st stood at less than 11,900, down 12% year-on-year, the fifteenth month of contracting supply. Daft.ie say this is a new low for this time of year, surpassing the previous low of 12,900 homes on September 1st 2021, just after lockdowns ended.

The fall in availability largely reflects a dip in the number of second-hand homes coming on to the market over the last year, with just over 51,000 homes coming on to the market in the twelve months to September, compared to almost 57,000 a year ago.

The Daft.ie Report is based on an analysis of the full database of properties posted for advertisement on Daft.ie up to late June 2024. Average price figures are calculated from econometric regressions using standard methods. Figures for the latest quarter are subject to revision once the final set of listings for the quarter is available; any updates will be included in subsequent reports.