The average asking price of a home listed on the property website Daft.ie rose by 6.2% in the year to the third quarter (Q3) of this year, its latest report shows.

Prices increased by 3.1% in the three months from June to September – one of the biggest quarterly gains since 2020.

Daft.ie figures also show that, during Q3, the average selling price was 5.4% above the listed price – a figure it describes as a measure of ‘market heat’.

The website said that the level of market heat in Q3 was the highest since the start of 2010.

The average listing price of a home on Daft.ie was €344,828.

Second-hand supply

The total number of second-hand homes available to buy on 1 September was 11,861 – down 12% on the same date last year and less than half the 2015-2019 average of 24,700.

In a commentary on the figures, Ronan Lyons (associate professor in economics, TCD) said that they suggested that a recovery in the second-hand housing market was likely to take time.

He added that the sector had taken a “double hit” in the early 2020s – from COVID restrictions, and then from higher interest rates.

Interest rates

“As interest rates rose and home-owners locked in lower rates, second-hand supply suffered. Unfortunately, it continues to suffer, with just over 51,000 second-hand homes put on the market in the year to 1 September this year,” Lyons stated.

This compares with the 67,000 second-hand homes that came on the market in 2019.

On the wider supply issue, the economist estimates that the true number of homes needed each year, if the housing deficit is to be addressed, as well as new needs, is close to twice what was built last year.