Daft.ie shows significant shift in Laois home prices towards buyers

The trend of slow house price rises in Laois and other counties has shown another significant shift in favour of buyers, according to the latest figures from Daft.ie.

The property website's House Price Report for the final three months of 2023 shows that prices were just 2% higher than a year previously.

This is also compared to a rise of 8% seen a year ago. The average price of a home is now €243,000, 14% below its Celtic Tiger peak. 

The following is a snapshot of asking prices and the percentage annual changes for Laois housing property from Daft.ie from October to December 2023:

• One-bed apartment €90,000 down 10.6%
• Two-bed apartment €131,000 up 2.4%
• Three-bed semi-detached home €186,000 up 4.8%
• Bungalow four bedroom €349,000 up 1.1%
• Detached five bedroom €373,00 up 12.7%

There were just over 230 properties listed for sale in Laois on the Daft.ie website on the day the report was published. Sites are listed among these.

The least expensive building is a house that is in office use in Rathdowney at a price of €75,000. The highest price home is located between Portlaoise and Stradbally is on the market for 10 times the Rathdowney property. The detached home near the Rock of Dunamaise has an asking price of €750,000.

Laois also has the second lowest average home prices of counties in Leinster outside Dublin. The lowest house prices in Leinster are found in Longford. MORE BELOW GRAPHIC.

Nationally, Daft.ie says housing prices during 2023 rose by an average of 3.4%, the smallest increase since 2019. It says the typical listed price nationwide in the final three months of the year was €320,046, 1.5% lower than in the third quarter and roughly 14% below the Celtic Tiger peak.

There remain significant differences in price trends across the country. Prices in Dublin rose by an average of 2% during 2023, while in the rest of Leinster, the increase was 0.8%.

Cork City saw prices rise by 3.7% during the year, while Galway city saw an increase of 4.1%. Increases in Waterford and Limerick cities were larger, though, at 6.1% and 9% respectively. The report finds that, outside the cities, prices were 6.8% higher in Munster and 8.3% higher in Connacht-Ulster in the final quarter of 2023 than a year previously.

Daft.ie says the number of homes available to buy nationwide on December 1st stood at just over 11,100. This is down 27% year-on-year and is the lowest since March 2022. It says this is also less than half the 2019 average of 24,200. The fall in availability, which started in the middle of the year, can be seen in all major regions of the country, although it’s proportionately largest in Dublin (down 33% year-on-year).

Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, commented in a statement issued when the latest report was published on December 29. More below graphic.

“Having increased dramatically in the second half of 2022, the availability of homes fell throughout 2023. The number of homes on the market is now at levels only previously seen during the pandemic. With price inflation easing off even as the number of listings is down over 10%, this suggests that the dramatic change in market conditions over the past 18 months is taking its toll," he said.

Mr Lyons spoke about the next 12 months.

"Looking ahead to 2024, the question will be about the performance of the second-hand market. The construction of new homes has improved dramatically over the past five years and looks set to continue into 2024 and potentially 2025. However, the second-hand market remains critical to the overall health of the housing system. If uncertainty continues to fade, and potentially interest rates start to fall again, it may be the case that 2024 sees the second-hand market recover. This would likely mean a healthier housing market than for some time, with transactions up but prices largely stable,” he said. More below graphic.

The full report includes commentary by Mr Lyons.

Daft.ie says its report is based on an analysis of the full database of properties posted for advertisement on the website up to late December 2023. Average price figures are calculated from econometric regressions using standard methods. It adds that figures for the latest quarter are subject to revision once the final set of listings for the quarter is available.