Finding a house anywhere nowadays can prove difficult, but even more so if your desire is to live in the countryside or rural area.
The area with the lowest median price for a house in the 12 months to July 2023 was Co. Longford, at €160,000, according to the recent Central Statistics Office (CSO) residential property price index.
The highest median price was €630,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
Meanwhile, over the 12 months to July 2023 the cheapest price of €127,500 was seen in Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo, while the most expensive eircode was at A94 Blackrock, Co. Dublin with a median price of €735,000.
In Dublin, according to the CSO, in the 12 months to July 2023, house prices fell by 1.8% and apartment prices went up by 0.1%.
Finding a house
According to Irish property website DAFT, the rise in prices in the last six months may be as a result of the “weakening supply and demand rate” but “despite everything” demand is “holding up reasonably well”.
DAFT also highlighted the effects of Covid-19 on the housing market, stating that it affected “regular economic activity and had led to seizing up of the market in second-hand homes”.
It stated that Leitrim was the cheapest place to live coming in at €185,781 for a home, while south Dublin, at a price point of €656,409, was the most expensive.
Dublin city saw a decline of 4.5% in prices, while there was price growth of 1.4% in Fingal, Co. Dublin.
Statistics from DAFT also showed 46,000 homes for sale between March 2020 and February 2021, yet it increased the following year reaching 56,000 in early 2022.
In the last few months that figure has decreased. Figures from DAFT show that in February there were 4% more homes than in the previous 12 months showing that there were 57,000 homes compared to 55,200.
The property website added that there is a “pattern” of the same houses being on the same market as last year but at a reduced price.