County house prices still falling

House prices in Clare continued to fall in the last three months, with the average price of a home here now just shy of €143,000.

 

According to the Daft.ie House Price Report, house prices in the county are down 11.8% to €142,757 on average, with the price of a three-bed semi-detached home and a five-bed detached house now the cheapest in Munster.

The report, released this week, shows that a one-bed apartment in Clare in the first quarter of the year cost €53,808, on average. The asking price for a two-bedroom terraced home was €63,372, while a three-bedroom semi-detached home was €91,105. The average asking price for a four-bedroom bungalow in Clare was €182,529 and for a five-bedroom detached home €212,712.

Larger homes were significantly cheaper in Clare than some parts of Munster, with a gap of more than €30,000 in five-bedroom homes here compared to County Cork and nearly €119,000 between the average price here compared to Cork City. The average price of all home sizes were lower in Clare compared to County Limerick. County Galway showed average prices lower than County Clare in all home sizes except one-bedroom apartments. There, the average price of a one-bedroom apartment was €56,144. Asking prices for two-bedroom terraced houses was €57,697. Three-bed homes were priced at €86,680, while four-bedroom bungalows were on the market for, on average, €162,405. Five-bedroom detached homes were priced at €184,505 in County Galway, nearly €30,000 less than in Clare.

In Galway and Limerick cities, house prices were down  10.7% and 12.9% respectively in the last year, according to the Daft.ie report. Despite this, house prices there were higher than similar properties in Clare. In Limerick City, one-bedroom apartments were averaging at €60,640. This rose to €75,030 for two-bed terraced homes and €117,736 for three-bedroom semi-detached houses. For four-bedroom bungalows, Limerick City prices averaged at €195,893 and for five-bedroom houses in the city, €268,512. Galway City prices were higher, ranging from €67,093 for a one-bedroom apartment to €297,086 for a five-bedroom detached property. Two bedroom homes in Galway City were by far the highest in Connaught, averaging at €83,015. A three-bedroom semi-detached house in the city was averaging at €130,264 in the first quarter of the year and for a four-bedroom home at €216,740.

Asking prices in Munster in early 2013 were 9.5% lower than the previous year, while Clare’s drop of a further 11.8% means house prices here are now nearly 54% below their peak.
Commenting on the report, economist with Daft.ie, Ronan Lyons said, “The latest figures show that the gap between prices in Dublin and those elsewhere is growing and growing quite rapidly. A year ago, a four-bedroom detached home in South County Dublin was 2.6 times the prices of the same property in Mayo but that ratio has since risen to 3.5, well above levels seen at the bubble.”

Nationally, house prices are down 6.6% in the first quarter  compared to the same period last year but asking prices in the capital were up by 0.5%, according to the report.

“On its own, the growing differential between Dublin and elsewhere signifies that first-time buyers are no longer prepared to sprawl and pay the costs of long commutes. But with prices actually rising again and only in certain parts of the country, this has even greater implications for the Government, as it suggests that there are not enough properties in areas close to jobs and other amenities that first-time buyers are looking for,” Mr Lyons concluded.

The MyHome.ie Property Barometer was also published this week and it shows that the average asking price of homes nationally is now €197,000. In its analysis of the first quarter of 2013 in Clare, asking prices for three-bedroom semi-detached homes here have remained static. The barometer shows the median price for a three-bed semi here was €125,000, down 53.2% on the peak. The median price for four-bedroom semi-detached homes here was €149,000 in the first three months of the year, down 3.9% on the previous quarter and almost 10% annually.