No let up as Daft.ie reveals scale of Laois house prices have spike

The cost of buying a home in Laois has spiralled upwards despite the increased supply.

With several big property construction projects underway especially in Portlaoise, the the Daft.ie House Price Report of 2025 shows a double-digit growth rate in Laois prices. 

Laois, prices in the first three months of 2025 were almost 14% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 4% seen in the 12 months to March 2024. Laois house prices are rising faster than nationally and the rate of price inflation is also higher than in Leinster and Dublin.

The average price of a Laois home is now €270,000, 52% above the level seen at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Daft.ie report provided to the Leinster Express/Laois Live analyses trends in the residential sales market from January to March. It reveals rapid growth in the type of homes in Laois.

A one-bedroom apartment now costs €115,000 on average in the county which is a 26.2% rise on the same time last year.  A two-bed terraced home is selling at €150,000 - up 13.5% on last year. 

The slowest growth rate is for three-bedroom semi-detached homes which cost €196,000 but this is up 11.6% compared to 12 months ago. MORE BELOW GRAPHIC.

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Buyers face average asking prices of €388,000 for a four-bedroom bungalow - up 12.6% on last year. Finally, a five-bed detached home is attracting an average price of €412,000 in Laois which is 17.7% up 2024.

Neighbouring Offaly, where the average price is €282,028 had the fastest year-on-year change - 18.2% - in Leinster. At €441,050 Wicklow has the highest average asking prices outside Dublin in Leinster. 

Daft.ie says the house price inflation rate is the second-highest seen nationally in the ten years since mortgage market rules were introduced. It is only exceeded only by the spike in prices seen in early 2017.

The analysis says the surge in inflation is being driven by Dublin and the rest of Leinster. Inflation in the capital is now running at 12.2%, the highest rate in eight years, while in the rest of Leinster, the annual increase in prices is 13.4%, also the highest since early 2017.

Galway (13.2%) and Limerick cities (13.8%) are also seeing rates of inflation above the national average, while the rate seen in Waterford (11.2%) and Cork cities (9.2%) is slower.

Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor in Economics Trinity College Dublin, is the report's author. MORE BELOW GRAPHIC.

"The ultimate solution remains unchanged from that which was needed a decade ago: A lot more homes need to be built, so that the country’s housing is adequate for its households," he said.

Daft.ie finds that the sharp price rise coincides with a very tight supply. It says the number of second-hand homes available to buy nationwide on March 1 stood at less than 9,300. This is down 17% year-on-year and also marks the lowest total ever recorded in a series extending back to January 2007.

The three months since the start of the year mark the only three months since 2007 when there were fewer than 10,000 second-hand homes available to buy.

The Daft Report was first launched in 2005 and is seen as one of the barometers of the property market. It combines information from the Daft.ie archives with data from Ireland’s Residential Property Price Register.