Property prices rose by almost 8% in 2021 - report
The Daft.ie report says the national average house price in 2021 was €290,998
By Maggie Doyle
Property prices rose by almost 8% in 2021, and there was an urban-rural divide according to new data released by the property website Daft.ie.
The national average house price was €290,998 and prices in the last three months of this year were 7.7% higher than the same period in 2020, according to the website's House Price Report.
The average price for a house in Dublin in 2021 increased by 3.4% on last year to €405,259.
The report shows the smallest increases were in cities. In Galway, the average house price was €322,543 which was up 1.6%.
In Cork city, prices rose by 5.5% to an average of €313,436 while in Limerick and Waterford cities, the increases were 6.4% and 7.5% respectively to €234,908 and €211,023.
Outside the cities, prices rose by an average of 12.5% this year, with the largest increase (14.6%) in the Connacht-Ulster area.
In Munster prices rose by 9.2%, while in Leinster, outside of Dublin, prices rose by 11.9%.
The report highlights the number of newly built homes that were sold this year - 5,526.
There was another rural-urban divide too, with transactions on new homes in Dublin falling by 18%, while in commuter counties, they rose by 36%.
The typical price for a newly built home was €345,000.
Supply of property was higher than in 2020 but still much lower than pre-pandemic levels.
According to the Daft.ie report, there were just over 54,000 advertisements for properties for sale this year, compared to almost 70,000 homes listed for sale in 2019.
Author of the report, Trinity College Dublin economist Ronan Lyons, said inflation in listed prices for homes is "stubbornly high" and that in the face of strong demand, the key to solving issues in the housing market is additional supply.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Mr Lyons said that prices in city centres are increasing slightly, but that prices in rural areas of the country rose by between 10% and 20% in some parts of the country.
Covid-19 reshuffled demand, he said, and boosted demand in places like Leitrim, Mayo and Galway county.