Limerick city housing prices rise almost 10% since last year, according to report

This year's figure of 9.7% compares to a rise of 6% seen a year ago. 

The average price of a home is now €292,000, 50% above the level seen at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In the rest of Limerick, prices in the third quarter of 2024 were 9% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 8% seen a year ago. 

The average price of a home is now €277,000, 52% above the level seen at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Housing prices nationally rose by an average of 3.1% in the third quarter of 2024, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report, released today. 

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 Covid-19 pandemic.

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. 

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%.

READ MORE: Urgent need for Limerick blood donors

The number of second-hand homes available to buy nationwide on September 1 stood at less than 11,900, down 12% year-on-year, the fifteenth month of contracting supply. 

This is a new low for this time of year, surpassing the previous low of 12,900 homes on September 1 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.

Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said: “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 added that: “While the volume of new homes being built and bought has largely held up in recent quarters, despite rising interest rates, the same cannot be said of the second-hand market. The number of homes coming on to the second-hand market remains very weak”. 

“The resulting scarcity of homes has pushed prices up, especially in Dublin, where new homes are being built. The typical second-hand home bought in Dublin between June and September sold for 7.6% above its listed price, the biggest gap since records began in 2010. Conditions elsewhere are similar, with a record average premium of 5.4% above the listed price nationally,” he continued.

Mr Lyons said that he believes: “The slow decline in mortgage interest rates will help the market, as will sitting homeowners coming off fixed-rate mortgages. But these factors are largely outside of policymaker control. The underlying issue remains a lack of homes, of all kinds, and this should remain the focus for policymakers before and after the next election”.

The full report is available here and includes commentary by Ronan Lyons.