By Ted Healy of DNG TED HEALY

The Daft.ie house price report for Q3 2021 has just been published and it shows that house prices rose by 1% between June and September this year - and are now 9.1% higher than a year ago.

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Over the last number of years, property search engine Daft.ie has collected a vast amount of data on the Irish property market. Each year tens of thousands of properties for sale or rent are advertised on the site.

Some of the key findings of the recent report are:

* House prices are now 9% higher than a year ago - which is an increase of €23,954 in only 12 months
* Inflation outside cities is highest, with prices rising by 13%
* The total number of properties available to buy on September 1 was just below 12,700, up slightly from levels recorded earlier in the year, but one of the lowest figures recorded since the rise of advertising properties for sale online
* The average price nationwide in the third quarter of 2021 was €287,704, 22% below the Celtic Tiger peak but three quarters above its lowest point in 2012.

The national trend hides regional differences. In Dublin, prices rose by 4.9% in the year to September, the slowest rate of inflation in a year. In the other major cities, prices rose by similar magnitudes – from 3.1% year-on-year in Galway to 8.4% in Limerick city. Outside the main cities, inflation remains significantly higher, with prices rising by an average of 12.9% year-on-year. The largest annual increases were in Mayo and Leitrim, where prices are more than 20% above their level a year ago.

Despite an uptick in listings, the total availability of homes for sale nationwide on September 1 was one third lower than the same date a year earlier and a little over half the amount for sale in September 2019.

Across Munster, listed prices increased by an average of 1.2% between July and September, down from 8.5% in the previous quarter

The jump in prices in Q2 means that prices in Munster are now 13.6% higher than a year previously.
There were just over 3,800 properties on the market in Munster on September 1, down from 5,600 on the same date a year ago.

Reflecting the impact of COVID-19 last year, there were 22% more transactions in Munster in the six months to July 2021 than the same period a year earlier: 6,455 compared to 5,286.

“It appears inflation has eased a bit and there has been a modest improvement in the number of homes available to buy," Ted Healy of DNG Ted Healy said. "However, the underlying issues remain. The stock for sale remains well below pre-COVID-19 levels, while many parts of the country are still seeing prices that are at least 10% higher than a year ago. Additional supply remains key to solving Ireland’s chronic housing shortage. The Government's 'Housing for All' plan contains a welcome boost in social housing activity but rising construction costs, the key determinant of viability, simply must be addressed."

Average list price and year-on-year change – major cities, 2021 Q3

Dublin City: €399,323 – up 4.9%
Cork City: €307,464 – up 5.8%
Galway City: €316,060 – up 3.1%
Limerick City: €230,585 – up 8.4%
Waterford City: €204,759 – up 6.3%