A new analysis of the Property Price Register shows the extent to which Dublin and Leinster continue to dominate the Irish property market.
The research, which was carried out by MyHome.ie shows that sales in Leinster, increased by 3.7% in 2018 to 33,722.
With national sales increasing by 3.8% to 56, 836, this means that sales in the province accounted for 59% of the total.
Meanwhile, the total value of property sales in Leinster, increased by a much higher percentage, rising by 14.5% to €12.2bn. This means that sales in the province made up 73% of the €16.8bn which was spent on residential property in Ireland last year.
Dublin, with 18,580 sales comprised just under a third of total sales with the value of those sales contributing over half (52%) of the €16.8bn total.
The level of residential property sales in Munster increased by 2.2% in 2018 to 14,178 according to MyHome’s research.
This means that property sales in Munster accounted for 25% of total national sales. Not surprisingly Cork played a leading role with sales in the county last year increasing by 2.7% to 6,039, 43% of total sales in Munster and over 10.6% of national sales.
The value of Cork sales increased significantly, rising from €1.36bn to €1.63bn, an increase of just over 20%. This means that Cork sales made up over half of the €3bn which was spent on residential property in Munster last year.
CountyNo of Sales in 2018No of Sales in 2017% Difference1Dublin18,58017,9223.7%2Cork6,0395,8802.7%3Kildare3,0762,8507.9%4Galway2,6362,781-5.2%5Meath2,5792,3499.8%6Limerick2,1212,0861.7%
The top 6 counties by sales volume
The Leinster county with the next highest number of sales after Dublin was Kildare where sales rose from 2,850 to 3,076 – an increase of 7.9% which put it in third position overall for sales.
Not surprisingly Kildare was also the county, where the third highest amount of money was spent at €877m. The number of sales in Meath rose by just under 10% while Limerick saw a more modest increase of 1.7%.
Overall the number of sales was up in 16 counties and down in 26. However, the value of sales was only down in three counties, namely Monaghan – the county with the lowest number of sales last year – Wicklow and Clare.
Carlow recorded not just the biggest increase in sales, up 28%, but also the biggest increase in the value of sales, up 47%. Longford had the lowest number of sales with 463.
The level of residential property sales in Connacht/Ulster increased by 2.4% in 2018 to 8,936.
Sales in Connacht/Ulster therefore – where Galway accounted for 30% of sales - made up 16% of total national sales.
The Managing Director of MyHome.ie, Angela Keegan said the sales figures reflected the greater demand for housing in the east of the country, as well as the higher values which properties in these counties command.
“Internationally we are seeing a move towards increased urbanisation and in Ireland, Dublin is very much the focus point for that. In addition to lifestyle issues, our capital – along with Galway and Cork - has been very successful in attracting foreign investment and higher paid jobs. As a result, these are the cities where people increasingly want to live and if they can’t live there due to the lack of affordable housing or if they want more space, they tend to move to towns in the commuter belt.”
“This is reflected in the increase in the volume of sales in commuter belt counties around Dublin and indeed in most other Leinster counties – they only fell in three – as well as increases in the commuter belts of other cities.”
“More generally the increase in sales is encouraging as it shows the market is continuing to recover. For a market like Irelands’ with some two million homes, we should be seeing at least 4% of those properties changing hands annually. We’re currently under 60,000 sales nationally and we need to get to circa 80,000 sales a year, but the graph is moving in the right direction.”
“At the moment there are 22,200 residential properties for sale on MyHome.ie. This is 5% up on this time last year when there were 21,161 properties for sale. There are also 514 new developments on the site at present, so new homebuilding is coming on stream and making an impact” Keegan said.
MyHome said the value of sales figures were useful on a macro scale in that they provided useful information on trends as well as the overall size of the four main regional markets.
RegionNo of Sales in 2018%
Difference
V 2017Value of Sales in 2018% Difference
V 20171Dublin18,5803.7%€8.7bn16%2Rest of Leinster15,1426.1%€3.5bn11%3Munster14,1782.2%€3bn17%4Connacht/Ulster8,9362.4%€1.44bn9.6%Total 56,8363.8%€16.7bn15%
“These sales figures show where people are buying. As you can see the biggest increase in sales took place in the Rest of Leinster and as noted earlier the commuter belt saw significant increases. While prices may be lower in a neighbouring county, the trade-off for prospective buyers is very often longer commute times.”
“As cities expand – we have highlighted Dublin’s ongoing sprawl on several occasions - the infrastructure inevitably comes under more pressure and this raises important questions about the need for a more balanced approach to regional development for Government and planners alike” Keegan concluded.
