Property prices have risen at a faster rate in some rural areas compared to prices in Dublin according to latest research, which also suggests Co. Mayo has the least expensive Eircode area in the country.
Property prices outside Dublin increased in general by 5.7% over the 12 months to March 2023 while prices in Dublin rose by 1.7%.
That is according to the Residential Property Price Index March 2023, published by the Central Statistics Agency (CSO) which shows that residential property prices on average rose by 3.9% in the 12 months to March 2023.
Viacheslav Voronovich, statistician with the CSO, said:
“The region outside of Dublin that saw the largest rise in house prices was the border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo) at 8.4%, while at the other end of the scale, the mid-west (Clare, Limerick, Tipperary) saw a 2.8% rise.”
According to the CSO the lowest average price paid for a property was €154,000 in Longford, while the highest was €635,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
Eircode
The latest research also suggests the least expensive Eircode area over the 12 months to March 2023 was F35 in Ballyhaunis. It had an average price of €126,000 compared to A94 ‘Blackrock where the average price was €750,000.
One trend identified by the CSO in the latest Residential Property Price Index is that new dwelling prices have also risen by 11.1% in the year to the first quarter of 2023.
The increase in property prices outside of Dublin underlines the rural dimension of the national housing crisis.
Rural housing
The Rural Independent Group of TDs has warned that there is currently no roadmap for a rural housing policy and has called for new rural planning guidelines that “allow for planning permission to be permitted for rural housing in all rural areas for those who have a genuine housing need”.
The group also believes the government should introduce a new €20,000 grant-aid package for “anyone who wishes to build a permanent one-off house on their own lands”.
Senator Victor Boyhan recently told the Seanad that sons and daughters of farmers are being prevented from living on their own family land because of “unreasonable policy decisions”
Senator Boyhan said many farm families feel the government is “inactive” in relation to rural housing policy which in turn “has forced many of them off the land of their forebears “.
Derelict houses
The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine has also debated how restoring vacant or derelict houses on farms could bring a number of benefits.
Committee chair, Deputy Jackie Cahill, said restoring these types of properties could provide “much-needed homes in a housing crisis” and keep young people on farms.
Elaine Houlihan the new president of Macra, told the committee that the organisation supports the “revitalisation of farm buildings” because it would address the current housing crisis.
She also warned that local demand for vacant homes in rural areas is “currently limited”.
Houlihan said:
“Rural vacancy is commonly considered only in the context of towns and villages but the derelict farm housing across the agricultural landscape provides significant opportunities for addressing the housing shortfall and rural development.”
The latest CSO research highlights that property prices nationally have increased by 126.6% from “their trough in early 2013”.
The CSO stated:
“Dublin residential property prices have risen by 126.2% from their February 2012 low, whilst residential property prices in the rest of Ireland are 134.9% higher than at the trough, which was in May 2013.”