THE asking price sought for houses in Clare has more than doubled since the lowest point of the crash, the latest property price report from Daft.ie shows.
Its research showed that the average price for a property advertised on daft.ie in the second quarter of the year was €241,191.
This was an increase of 5.2% on the first quarter of the year and of 14.2% on the second quarter of last year, while it is an increase of 101.7% on the lowest point of the crash.
An average one-bed apartment in Clare now costs €99,000, 22.7% higher than it was in the second quarter of 2021.
A two-bedroom terraced house typically costs €121,000, up by just over 20% year on year.
A three-bedroom semi-detached house now costs on average €168,000, up 17% year on year, while a four-bed bungalow now costs €309,000, up 10%.
A five-bedroom detached house now costs on average €325,000, up by 14% since the second quarter of last year.
Writing in the Daft.ie report, ecomomics professor Ronan Lyons said that while prices are still rising across the country, the market may be about to cool somewhat.
“Looking at the flow of homes on to the market – rather than the stock available at any particular time – is a more direct window on to supply.
“In the twelve months to May 2022, just under 60,000 homes were advertised for sale nationwide.
“That is up from 52,700 a year previously and a low of less than 46,000 in the year to February 2021. The market is still somewhat off its pre-covid 12-month total of 65,000 – but recovery, in terms of fresh supply, is well underway and perhaps even almost complete.”
Professor Lyons added, “Looking ahead, it may not be supply that shapes the market over the rest of the year, but instead demand.
“On the one hand, interest rates are rising – something that will feed into the mortgage market soon enough and which will temper demand from new buyers.
“Ironically, interest rate rises are normally associated with cooling off booms but these rises come at a time when sentiment is somewhat fragile – on the back of war and supply chain disruption.
“Indeed, one statistic jumps out from the Sentiment Survey undertaken every quarter as part of this report. For over a decade, the survey has asked respondents what they expect to happen to the sale price of housing nationally over the next year.
“Since 2014 – with a small wobble around the very start of Covid – the typical person active in the housing market has expected prices to rise.
“As recently as the first quarter of this year, respondents expected prices to rise by 5.1% on average. But respondents in the second quarter expected an increase of just 0.9%.
“Whether and how this change in sentiment translates into weaker demand – distinct from changes in interest rates themselves – remains to be seen.
“But while supply shortages are not going anywhere soon, demand could be in focus soon enough.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.