HOUSE prices in Clare in the last three months of 2021 were 14% higher than the previous year, latest figures have highlighted. This compares with a rise of 5% seen a year ago. The average price of a home in Clare is now almost €220,000, 84% above its lowest point.
National housing prices rose by 7.7% on average during 2021, according to the latest Daft.ie Sales Report. The average price nationwide in the final quarter of 2021 was €290,998, up 0.6% on the third quarter of 2021 and just 21% below the Celtic Tiger peak.
While 2020 saw similar rates of inflation across the Irish housing market, significant regional differences emerged during 2021.
The smallest increases were in urban areas. In Galway city, prices rose by 1.6% during the year, while in Dublin, prices rose by 3.4%. In Cork city, prices rose by 5.5% while in Limerick and Waterford cities, the increases were 6.4% and 7.5% respectively. But outside the five main cities, prices rose by an average of 11.5% during 2021.
The increase in Munster (outside the cities) was 9.2%, while in Leinster excluding Dublin, prices rose by 11.9%. The largest increase in prices in the country was seen in Connacht-Ulster, where prices rose by 14.6% during 2021.
Fewer than 11,500 homes were listed for sale on December 1, the lowest total recorded since July 2006, when online advertising was still emerging. This represents a fall of one quarter, year-on-year.
The total number of ads of properties for sale in the year to December 1st was just over 54,000, the highest 12-month total since early 2020. While supply has improved, it remains well below pre-pandemic levels – with almost 70,000 homes listed for sale during 2019.
Author Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said, “Inflation in listed prices continues to cool from its mid-year peak. Nonetheless, at nearly 8% for the year, it remains stubbornly high. “This reflects a combination of unusually strong demand and on-going weak supply. Demand for homes to buy, which had been strong anyway from the mid-2010s, has received an unexpected boost during the covid19 pandemic, with prospective buyers able to tap into ‘accidental’ savings, as expenditure fell during the lockdowns.
“Additional supply – not just of homes for sale but also of market and social rental housing – remains key to solving Ireland’s chronic housing shortage.”