House prices have jumped by a massive 3.5% this year, new research has shown.
And over 630 properties have sold for more than €1m in the past year, according to the latest wealth report on Daft.ie.
More money is being spent on homes with Daft.ie assessing the value of all residential property in Ireland now stands at over €536 billion, an increase of €18bn since last year.
Trinity College economist Ronan Lyons said: “If you had surveyed 100 economists at the start of the year, when there was only the first inklings of the potential impact of Covid-19, I doubt whether any – in all honesty – would have predicted that such an economic shock would have caused property prices to rise, not fall, but yet that is what happened.
“The headline is that overall housing wealth in Ireland is up about 3.5% on a year ago - at €536.4bn, up almost €18bn on the figure in the 2019H2 report.
“That increase of almost €50m per day was driven not by the completion of €6bn of new homes, which was affected by the pandemic, but instead by higher values of existing homes.”
The report also shows the most expensive markets to buy property in in Ireland, with Temple Gardens in Rathmines topping the list with houses changing hands for an average of €2million.
Mr Lyons continued: “The report outlines the most expensive regional and “micro” markets in each region of the country. Of 54 regional markets, Dublin 6 is the most expensive - with an average property price of €616,000 - followed by South County Dublin and Dublin 4, Dublin 6W and Dublin 14 are the two other markets where the average property value is above €500,000.
“Leitrim is the cheapest market in the country, with average property values there of just €128,000, well below Roscommon, at €143,000 the second cheapest.
“Three other markets - Longford, Mayo and Sligo - also have average property values below €150,000.
“Housing wealth is fascinating - but it’s also reflective of a broad range of bigger trends. The country could add to its housing wealth rapidly by building lots of new homes - but this is likely to be unpopular with existing homeowners who typically would rather fewer homes, worth more each.
“2019 saw construction add more to housing wealth than price changes but this year it’s the opposite.
“Affordable housing is good for the country and that trumps other concerns in a country with a chronic and worsening shortage of homes.”
