Property asking prices almost double in past six years

Asking prices for houses in Galway City are edging towards double what they were at the bottom of the market six years ago, new research has shown.

Figures from property website Daft.ie show that the average asking price for a house in the city now stands at just over €300,000 – up almost 10% on the end of March last year.

In fact, since mid-2013, the market ‘trough’ in the city, asking prices have jumped by 87.1%.

In the county, the average asking price is more than €201,000, which is a 4% year-on-year increase and a rise of 59.3% since the bottom of the market.

Nationally, the increase since the collapse of the market was 59%, with the average price standing at €261,000.

According to the report, in Galway City, the biggest annual increase in asking prices was for one-bed apartments (up 9.7%) to an average of €119,000. Two-bed terraced homes were up 12.4% to €162,000; three-bed semis up 5% to €233,000; four-bed bungalows up 10.2% to €394,000 and five-bed detached homes up 8.3% to €483,000.

In the county, one-bed apartments were up 8.1% to €66,000; two-bed terraced homes up 13.5% to €90,000; three-bed semis up 3.2% to €119,000; four-bed bungalows up 6.4% to €233,000 and five-bed detached houses up 7.5% to €255,000.

A report from rival website Myhome.ie released this week found the median (the ‘middle price’, thought of as the price of the house which is more expensive than exactly half of the other houses) asking price for a house in County Galway rose 10% to €230,000 (up 4.6%), while city prices were up 5% to €262,500.

Meanwhile, new data from the Residential Tenancies Board Rent Index shows that the average monthly rent in County Galway is €1,016 (up 4.8% year-on-year) and €1,064 in the city (up 5.5%).

The RTB Rent Index is the most accurate rent report of its kind on the private accommodation sector in Ireland because it reflects the actual rents being paid, according to the RTB’s records, as distinct from the asking or advertised rent, which is the basis of other rent reports such as Daft.ie.