Longford most affordable county for typical home but 'affordability is relative'
First-time buyers need an estimated minimum income of about €48,375 to secure a typical starter home in Longford, a gap of €9,518 between what people earn and what they need.
Longford is the most affordable county in Ireland for first-time buyers, but a single buyer still needs to earn more than €48,000 to buy a typical first home.
Median property prices in Longford were found to being €190,500 for a typical home, making it the cheapest county in the country overall based on recent property register data.
First-time buyers need an estimated minimum income of about €48,375 to secure a typical starter home in Longford.
That is much more than the county's median income of €38,857, leaving a gap of €9,518 between what people earn and what they need, the smallest such gap in the country.
At €48,375, Longford has the lowest income requirement of any county. Yet the local median income still falls short of what a single buyer would need to borrow for a typical first home, according to research from Chill Insurance.
The research compared the median first-time buyer home price in each county, using the Central Statistics Office's Residential Property Price Index, with median local incomes from CSO earnings data.
These figures were then assessed against the standard Central Bank lending rules, under which a buyer can borrow up to 90% of a home's value and up to four times their gross income.
The typical first-time buyer home in county Longford costs €215,000, however, the median income is €38,857.
Economist Austin Hughes said: "With Irish house prices continuing to increase faster than wages, first-time buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to find a property they can afford, not just in Dublin or major urban centres but right across the country.
The Chill report emphasises the nationwide nature of the problem would-be homebuyers face.
"Even allowing for ongoing wage growth, in no county is the typical first-time buyer property accessible at present to the median wage-earner, unless they are in a position to get additional financial support from the State and/or their family."
Ian O'Reilly, Director of Sales and Operations at Chill Insurance, said, "Longford is the most affordable county in our research for first-time buyers, but affordability is relative.
A single buyer earning the local median income would still not earn enough to borrow what they need for a typical first home.
"For many first-time buyers, closing that gap means saving a larger deposit, buying with another person or looking at State supports such as the First Home Scheme or the Local Authority Home Loan."