Asking prices for homes in Galway City up 70% since bust

Asking prices for houses in Galway City have jumped by a whopping 70% – and by more than 45% in the county – since the property market bottomed out, according to new research.

Figures from property website Daft.ie show the average house asking price in Galway City at the end of 2017 stood at just over €273,000 – up 8.1% from a year earlier.

In the county, house prices averaged just over €184,000, up 8.7% year-on-year.

Those figures tally with research from Sherry Fitzgerald, the largest estate agency in the country, which puts the increase in Galway at 8.4%.

According to the Daft.ie figures, asking prices in the city are up 70.1% since the market trough in mid-2013, while they are up 45.5% in the county.

The Daft.ie figures are based on asking prices as opposed to eventual selling prices, while the Sherry Fitzgerald report is based on official sales figures from the Property Price Register, although there can be a time lag of several months between a property selling and appearing on the register.

Marian Finnegan, economist with Sherry Fitzgerald said: “A strengthening economy, strong employment growth and notable demographic pressures have all led to significant upward pressure on the demand for housing. This has resulted in a period of heightened price growth.

“This is most notable in the established housing markets of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, where the supply side pressures are most apparent.

“Looking to the year ahead, other things being equal, it seems likely that the market will continue to experience above trend price growth with current indications suggesting that prices will increase by 6-8% in the established housing markets.”

According to the Daft.ie report, in Galway City, the biggest annual increase in asking prices was for two-bed terraced homes (up 14%) to an average of €146,000. At the end of 2017, one-bed apartments were asking €103,000 (up 9.2%); three-bed semis up 8.2% to €226,000; four-bed bungalows up 8.7% to €371,000 and five-bed detached homes up 9.5% to €457,000.

In the county, one-bed apartments were up 18.3% to €60,000; two-bed terraced homes up 24.2% to €80,000; three-bed semis up 22.6% to €117,000; four-bed bungalows up 14.6% to €216,000 and five-bed detached houses up 17.1% to €248,000.

The national average asking price at the end of 2017 was €241,000, up 9.2% year-on-year.