House demand in Laois is radically out of step with most of Ireland figures show

House prices in Laois is rising a lot slower than most other counties according to the latest figures from the property website Daft.ie.

Its analysis of the market nationally and by county shows that nationwide demand for homes is up by 17% year on year while the demand for new homes has risen by a staggering 114% nationally when comparing May 2023 to the same period in 2022.

While demand in Dublin is up 34%, double the growth in demand seen nationally. The demand for new homes in Dublin has also increased by a whopping 99%.

However, Laois appeared to buck this trend compared to a year previous, Laois saw an increase in demand of 9%. 

Daft.ie says 18 of the 26 counties examined across the country have seen an increase in demand compared to the same time last year. It says Offaly both saw a demand increase of 26%, while housing demand in Louth is 25% higher than a year ago.

Laois is also out of step with the rest of Leinster where demand for homes was seen up on average 26% accross the 12 counties. The rise in Connacht-Ulster was 15% but Munster demand rose by just 6%.

When we compare these demand increases with the demand for new homes specifically within these provinces we can see Connacht-Ulster saw the largest demand growth for new homes with 110%, followed by Leinster at 75% and Munster at 69% hike in demand for new homes. 

To assess the demand, Daft.ie looked at growth and change in enquiries sent on property listings across their property sales section on Daft.ie. 

Daft.ie says homes with a listed price of between €400k - €600k saw the largest rise in demand of 38%. new homes within the price bracket of €400k - €500k saw a staggering surge in demand of 1783%, it can be assumed this price point has seen the largest increase due to the help-to-buy scheme qualifying criteria whereby the purchase value of the property must be €500k or less.

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While demand for homes between €200k - €400k has increased 24% (186% for new homes), homes listed between €600k - €800k have also seen a large growth of 20% (251% for new homes) compared to this time last year. Homes over €800k have also seen an increase in demand from buyers by just of 2%, while new homes over €800k have seen a rise of 160% year on year.

Overall, the Daft.ie analysts claim the figures shows demand for homes nationwide has strengthened year on year. However they add that supply is not measured and the supply in the sales market in Ireland over the last 12 months was not one where supply was adequate to meet demand.

They concluded: "The Irish housing market is in desperate need of increased supply over years and indeed decades to come."