House price inflation accelerated again in the first quarter on the back of what the State’s largest estate agent said was “a chronic lack of supply in the second-hand market”.
Sherry FitzGerald said asking prices for second-hand homes nationally rose by 2 per cent between January and March and were up by 5.1 per cent on an annual basis. This compared with annualised growth of 3.6 per cent this time last year.
In the capital, asking prices for second-hand homes rose at an even swifter rate of 2.1 per cent during the quarter, while price inflation outside Dublin increased by 1.9 per cent.
“One of the key factors sustaining this strong price growth is a chronic lack of supply in the second-hand market,” Sherry FitzGerald managing director Marian Finnegan said.
In January, just 11,050 second-hand properties were listed for sale “representing a mere 0.6 per cent of the entire private housing stock in Ireland, with rural and regional Ireland disproportionately affected,” she said.
The company has been predicting house prices nationally to rise by 2-3 per cent this year. Ms Finnegan said an extreme shortage of stock in the first quarter drove an acceleration in asking prices but “we expect the pace of inflation to moderate somewhat” as more supply comes on stream.
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Sherry FitzGerald’s latest quarterly report on the residential market here noted there were almost 60,200 housing transactions in 2023 (excluding block sales and homes acquired for social housing), up 1.1 per cent on the previous year.
Activity in the second-hand market saw a minor reduction, with about 49,650 units sold in 2023, a reduction of 50 units transacting when compared with 2022, it said.
The company said the shortage of second-hand stock in rural counties such as Longford, Kerry, Roscommon and Donegal saw transaction activity in the second-hand market decline by more than 8 per cent.
Conversely the company said the new homes market witnessed a modest uptick in transaction activity last year, with 10,550 transactions recorded in the year, a 7 per cent increase on the previous year, with Dublin and its commuter-belt counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow accounting for more than half (56 per cent) of transaction activity.
In its report, Sherry FitzGerald again highlighted the exodus of landlords from the market, noting that in the first quarter just 12 per cent of purchasers of second-hand homes with the company were investors, while 35 per cent of vendors were investors selling their properties.
“While it is anticipated that house completions levels will improve again this year, the desired V-shaped recovery in supply has not occurred,” Ms Finnegan said.
“As such the deficit in supply is likely to persist. This shortage in new supply has had a ripple effect, adversely affecting the supply of other properties to the market. This pattern is particularly noticeable in more rural locations, as is evidenced in contracting transaction volumes,” she said.
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Britons are paying more for less as the country’s housing stock offers the worst value for money of any advanced economy, behind the US, Germany and France.
UK households pay 57% more for the same housing as their counterparts in Austria, for example, and 36% more than those in Canada, according to a study from think tank The Resolution Foundation.
UK households pay more than any other of the 38 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) economies in housing costs — bar from Finland — but are not getting their money’s worth.
High housing costs could reflect the cost of a superior quantity or quality of housing in the UK, but in reality they do not. The report shows that English homes actually have less average floorspace per person (38m²) than many similar countries, including the US (66m²), Germany (46m²), France (43m²) and even Japan (40m²).
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English homes also have less floor space, on average, than homes in crowded New York City (43m²). Overall, Brits get 24% less housing per person than Austrians and 22% less than Canadians.
As well as being cramped, the UK’s housing stock is also the oldest of any of European countries, with a greater share (38%) of homes built before 1946 than anywhere else.
For example, just 21% of homes in Italy, and 11% in Spain, were built before the end of the war. Older homes tend to be poorly insulated, leading to higher energy bills and a higher risk of damp, said the think tank.
Adam Corlett, principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Britain is one of many countries apparently in the midst of a housing crisis, and it can be difficult to separate rhetoric from reality. But by looking at housing costs, floorspace and wider issues of quality, we find that the UK’s expensive, cramped and ageing housing stock offers the worst value for money of any advanced economy.
“Britain’s housing crisis is decades in the making, with successive governments failing to build enough new homes and modernise our existing stock. That now has to change.”
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Housing in New Zealand offers the second worst value for money, followed by Australia and Ireland — all countries also gripped by housing crises.
To determine the actual market cost of housing, the analysis examined what it would cost to rent all homes — incorporating the imputed rents, or what owners would pay if they rented their home at market rates — to show how the market price of housing varies across a range of countries.
Watch: UK house prices creep up as experts predict ‘smoother year’ for buyers and sellers
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An Oak Island home, situated on Long Island’s southern shore near Fire Island, won’t come with electricity, trash collection, or emergency services. And it’s only accessible by boat.
It’s on sale for $500,000.
Yes, the area offers beautiful ocean views and the chance to rough it on a quiet island oasis just 50 miles from Times Square. Oak Island life is for those with “a very hearty soul,” a resident told The New York Times in 2021, and rewards people who don’t mind doing almost everything on their own.
But there’s not a single store, restaurant, or postal services, the New York Times reported. Residents rely on solar panels, battery-powered pumps, and propane-fed gas lamps—and notably, it’s illegal to live there the whole year. Its residents return to their waterfront properties seasonally during the summer months.
The listed house—a four bedroom, two bathroom with 1,950 square feet—was built in 1904 and comes with a small cottage towards the back of the property, a fireplace, and a private waterfront dock. It offers about an acre of land and has “no damages from Hurricane Sandy,” according to the property listing, which was one of the costliest storms in U.S. history.
According to Redfin, the average house in Long Island sells for about $645,000, up more than 12% since last year—and it’s much in line with rising home prices that people are facing all over the country.
The growing unaffordable housing crisis has been pushing some people to try alternatives, like moving off the grid, which is now a $2.27 billion market poised to reach $4.5 billion by 2030, according to a SkyQuest report. More expensive housing means demand for tiny or off-the-grid housing is “likely to rise significantly over the next five years,” according to SkyQuest, and that younger people who can’t afford home prices and retired people who struggle to maximize their savings will be the main drivers of its growth.
Property prices have accelerated again with a jump of over 5 per cent recorded nationally for the 12 months to the end of January.
The latest residential property price index, compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed prices rose by 5.4 per cent on an annual basis in January. This was the fifth month in a row that headline inflation in the property market has increased.
Prices in Dublin rose at an annual rate of 4.5 per cent while prices outside the capital rose by 6.1 per cent, the CSO said.
The housing market had slowed significantly last year on the back of 10 consecutive interest rate rises from the European Central Bank (ECB), which have made it more expensive for buyers to borrow. But prices have started rising again, with the pace of those increases accelerating.
The latest pickup in prices comes amid expectations that the ECB will begin a cycle of rate reductions this year. Prices have also been buoyed by the various Government affordability schemes which have fuelled activity with first-time buyers.
The latest figures indicate that prices increased by 0.7 per cent month-on-month in January.
Buyers paid a median or middle price of €330,000 for a home in the 12 months to January, the latest figures show.
The Dublin region had the highest median price at €445,000. Within the Dublin region Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median price of €620,000, while Fingal was the lowest in the capital at €410,250. The highest median prices outside of Dublin were in Wicklow (€437,500) and Kildare (€395,000), while the lowest was €165,000 in Leitrim.
The latest CSO figures indicated there were 3,621 home purchases by households at market prices filed with Revenue in January. This represents a 1.5 per cent decrease compared with January last year and a 28.5 per cent fall on the 5,063 purchases in December 2023. The total value of transactions filed in January was €1.4 billion.
Davy economist Dermot O’Leary noted that while annual house price inflation was still highest outside of Dublin, “momentum has been strong in the capital over recent months”.
“The annualised rate of growth in the three months to January was running at 15 per cent in Dublin, relative to 11 per cent outside Dublin,” he said, in contrast to the position over most of the previous 18 months.
Davy is forecasting a 4 per cent rise in prices this year though Mr O’Leary acknowledged “risks are now on the upside given the recent momentum and the prospect of rate cuts in the second half of the year”.
“The continued pickup in house price growth is further evidence that the Irish housing market has regained momentum and that the mismatch between housing supply and demand remains painfully evident,” said Ian Lawlor of Lotus Investment Group, which lends to developers. “Recent statistics marking a 15-year peak in the construction of new homes, with 32,695 units completed in 2023, ostensibly paint a picture of construction progress and achievement. Such statistical milestones, while noteworthy, should not serve as a smokescreen for the underlying challenges that persist in the housing sector.”
Ireland is currently facing a housing crisis due to decreasing investment and a rising population.
Ireland house prices could continue rising for the near future, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has warned the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight.
This is mainly due to low investment and rapidly increasing population, causing demand to overtake supply. According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office, only 66% of Irish houses are owner-occupied, a significant fall from about 79% in 1991. Data from the Residential Tenancies Board and ESRI estimate the average Dublin rent now to be about €2,102.
In its opening statement, the ESRI, as reported by The Irish Times, said: “Ireland was among the countries with the lowest investment in housing in the EU in 2022, only exceeding Greece, Poland, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result, the rise in house prices and rents is likely to continue, albeit at a slower pace in the case of house prices.”
Early on this year, ESRI, reported by the BBC said: “It is almost certain that existing targets for housing supply understate need, given the stronger than expected increase in the population shown by early results from the 2022 Census. Hence, higher output will be needed.”
Why is Ireland facing a housing crisis?
One of the biggest reasons why Ireland is facing a housing crisis is due to lower investment as the economy is still reeling from the effects of the pandemic, high inflation and weaker economic growth.
Higher interest rates have also contributed to more developers hesitating to take on too much debt. This has led to several housing projects being either halted midway or postponed.
Regulatory changes following the financial crisis, as well as zoning restrictions have also severely limited the availability of affordable housing, hitting low and middle income earners the worst. This has in turn contributed to rising homelessness and rapidly increasing rents and mortgages.
The impact of the Irish housing crisis can also be felt on the country’s business and productivity sectors, with several choosing or being forced to move out of urban cities, or the country altogether in search of affordable housing.
This could be devastating on the competitiveness of the country, especially when it comes to attracting foreign investment and companies.
ESRI research professor Kieran McQuinn, as reported by The Irish Times said about the crisis: “Certainly it is impacting on competitiveness in the economy. You are hearing a lot of information about multinationals raising it as an issue, and raising it as a fairly significant issue from their perspective.
“They pay very good wages – probably the best wages in the economy – but if a large proportion of those are going on housing costs, it raises issues for them.”
Rising immigration and the refugee crisis in the last few years have also led to a quickly deteriorating situation.
“Fortunately, abandoning this ill-conceived policy brings a sigh of relief. It’s a reassuring outcome, sparing first-time buyers from the potential pitfalls of such a misguided approach.”
Introducing 99% mortgages could have wiped thousands of pounds of deposits for first-time buyers.
Under the proposed scheme, the deposit on a home at the average UK house price of £285,000 would pay just £2,850 as a deposit. That’s an enticing prospect when compared with a mortgage requiring a 10% deposit of £2,850, for example.
Halifax said in January that the average deposit for first-time buyers was £53,414, around a fifth of the purchase price of a home.
The trade-off for a small deposit, however, is higher mortgage payments.
Ahead of the Spring Budget, Rightmove said the average monthly mortgage payment for a typical first-time buyer property was £1,089 a month for an average five-year fixed 85% loan-to-value mortgage. That was up from £1,068 a year previously.
Matt Smith, Rightmove’s mortgage expert said: “Whilst we felt the 99% mortgage scheme idea would have only been able to help a very limited number of future first-time buyers, it could have played a role as part of a broader set of considered measures.”
House prices soared to record highs almost two years ago but have been slightly declining ever since as interest rates have been raised to combat inflation, driving variable mortgage payments higher.
There have been signs that house prices are now starting to recover – Nationwide reported its first annual house price growth for the first time over a year in February with prices up 1.2% year on year.
In recent years, the government has introduced demand-side measures to help people into home ownership including Help to Buy schemes and stamp duty cuts running until March 2025.
But demand-side solutions to the housing crisis have been trickier. The government has failed to hit its target of building 300,000 homes per year by the mid-2020s and last year built around 235,000 homes.
Housing shortages, particularly in social housing, are one of the factors driving the housing crisis. Last week Shelter and the National Housing Federation said building 90,000 social rent homes a year could give the economy a £50bn boost over the next three decades.
Anna Clarke, The Housing Forum’s director of policy and public affairs, said that building more homes is the only sustainable way to help people into home ownership, rather than a focus on 99% mortgages.
“I think 99% mortgages are likely to be less effective than they would have been a couple of years ago because the size of deposit is not the main barrier facing buyers anymore; it’s the size of the loan repayments they’d face. You could say they’re the answers to yesterday’s problem,” said Clarke.
“In as much as they work at all, they can only do so by pushing prices higher than they otherwise would be. They’re poorly targeted at increasing new supply as they’d presumably be available on all housing, old and new, unlike Help to Buy, which did definitely increase housebuilding. Increasing housebuilding is the only long-term way to increase the number of people who can afford a home of their own.”
Hungarian house prices have climbed by more than 166% since 2015, but there’s a country with an even more eyewatering increase.
The price of an apartment in Istanbul is now in close competition with those in infamously expensive cities such as Paris and London, as figures show that Turkish house prices are 12 times higher than they were nine years ago in nominal terms.
Among OECD member states, northern European countries such as Sweden and Finland have seen the smallest change, with more than 4% increases in nominal housing prices since 2015.
On the other end of the scale sits transcontinental Turkey, followed by Hungary, where prices are 166% more than they were in 2015.
The majority of OECD countries saw their house prices rise well into the double digits between 2015 and 2023. Still, Turkish prices particularly stand out from the crowd, pushing the rental prices so high that even the country’s central bank governor can’t afford to rent.
However, while Turkish housing prices have risen gradually since 2015, they only started climbing at a brake neck speed in 2021.
They reached their peak in 2022, when house prices went 168% up in a year, followed by a rise of 76% in 2023.
Meanwhile, across Europe and the US, house prices took a hit in late 2022 as central banks in these economies started hiking up interest rates to tackle high inflation, which pushed up mortgage rates in the process.
On the flip side, the Turkish central bank lowered its benchmark rate in August 2022, even though in November of that year inflation in the country was close to 85%.
Experts put the soaring escalation of nominal property prices in Turkey down to a mix of reasons.
“The actual change starts from 2020,” said Görkem Yapan, real estate and construction sector leader for the Turkish market at KPMG. “The main reasons I believe, are the currency fluctuation, the devaluation of Turkish lira, higher inflation rates and the consequent increase in construction costs, and also the growing demand after the pandemic.”
Turkey’s inflation rate in 2022 was extremely high, more than 50% for almost the entire year, reaching above 80% in October. However, real-term house prices (adjusted for inflation) also climbed by 96.7% by the third quarter of 2023 compared to 2015, according to the OECD.
“We experienced last year earthquakes, affecting 11 cities in Turkey, that also boosted the prices, because people want to live in more secure places like earthquake-resistant buildings,” said Yapan.
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While cash buyers flooded the market, people with mortgages in Turkey have seen their monthly rates skyrocket: the extreme levels of inflation in Turkey, which recently reached almost 70%, triggered the central bank to aggressively tighten its monetary policy and raise the benchmark rate from 8.5% in June 2023 to 45% in January 2024.
As a result, mortgages in Turkey now have an annual 40% interest rate. Also, the maximum mortgage up for grabs covers no more than one-fifth of the price of a house.
Throughout 2023, less than 15% of houses sold had a buyer with a mortgage. The rest were sold to cash buyers.
Are Russians buying up the Turkish property market?
Starting in 2022, the most significant portion of houses sold to foreigners went to Russians, followed by Iranians.
“Following the onset of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, there was a significant influx of migrants from both nations to Antalya, İstanbul and Mersin,” said Yapan, adding that these three locations became the most popular among Russian investors where their presence pushed prices up.
In Antalya alone, prices jumped 230% in one year by the second half of 2022.
“Due to the doubling of the foreign population in Antalya over the course of two years following the migration from Russia and Ukraine, property and rental prices skyrocketed,” said Yapan.
Meanwhile, the devaluation of the Turkish lira limited Turkish buyers’ opportunities. At the same time, a large number of Russian and Ukrainian citizens paid huge amounts in cash, triggering property demand that further provoked the increase in prices.
However, demand from Russian buyers didn’t explain the major change in prices in the entire country, even if their significant interest in certain locations did drive prices up.
“However, in 2023, out of 1.2 million houses sold in Turkey, 35,000 houses (3%) were sold to foreigners, and roughly 30% of these houses sold to foreigners were sold to Russians,” said Yapan, adding that Russian investors recently started swapping Turkey for other destinations, such as Cyprus.
Investing in the Turkish property market – is it too late?
The Turkish market has slammed on the brakes as a result of high housing and rental prices, high interest rates and declining household income in real terms due to high inflation.
House prices are still increasing in nominal terms, but they are falling behind inflation. Therefore in real terms, they’ve been getting cheaper lately.
High construction costs may lead to limited supply. However, if demand for homes increases and interest rates drop to stimulate growth, it could help overcome the current stagnation.
However, people cannot afford to buy their house at the moment, leading to stubbornly high rental prices – and this is actually leaving some room to invest for cash buyers.
“There is a ratio, for instance, in Istanbul or in Turkey,” explained Yapan. “Most of the time the sale price of a house was 300 times the rent. It’s an average. But now the rents are very high.”
“The rent increase is more than the house price increase,” he said. “So now this average drops between 250-300.”
In theory, this means that, in fewer than 300 months, investors can recoup the price of a house.
Disclaimer: This information does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it’s right for your specific circumstances. Also remember, we are a journalistic website and aim to provide the best guides, tips and advice from experts. If you rely on the information on this page, then you do so entirely at your own risk.
House prices and rents will remain on an upward curve for the foreseeable future, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) will tell the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight on Wednesday evening.
Several members of the think tank are due before the committee to discuss “the present economic and fiscal situation”.
In its opening statement the institute notes that investment in residential construction here slowed noticeably in 2022. “Ireland was among the countries with the lowest investment in housing in the EU in 2022, only exceeding Greece, Poland, and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” it says. “As a result the rise in house prices and rents is likely to continue, albeit at a slower pace in the case of house prices.”
The institute warns that demand for housing would continue to exceed the supply over the medium-term. Despite reaching a 16-year high with 32,695 completed units in 2023, housing supply remains insufficient, it says.
While current estimates of structural demand for housing in the Irish economy is put at 35,000 units per annum, this underestimates “the actual needs for housing” because of higher immigration numbers, the ESRI says. “By the end of April 2023 Ireland measured the highest population growth since 2008, which underlines the argument that structural housing demand will be revised upwards.”
ESRI researchers are currently working on a new estimate of housing demand which is due to be published in April and which will go towards revised State targets.
In its submission the institute notes the Irish economy “has weathered challenges such as Covid-19 and inflation well and we believe that the macroeconomic outlook for 2024 points towards continued, modest growth”. However, it warns that the economy’s increasing “dependence on a small number of very large firms is again becoming more evident”.
It highlights the pharmaceutical and ICT sectors which have seen significant growth in both value-added and employment in recent years. “As mentioned in several commentaries, the exceptional performance of these sectors makes the domestic economy vulnerable to a significant correction or contraction in either sector,” the ESRI says, while noting these sectors are behind the current slump in GDP (gross domestic product).
“This concentration of risk is even more important in regard to corporation tax receipts as this has an impact on fiscal policy and the domestic economy. In this regard the announcement to establish the Future Ireland Fund and the Climate and Nature Fund in the recent budget is commendable.”
What difference would a 99% mortgage make?
A 99% mortgage would see a prospective home buyer pay a 1% deposit on their home with the trade-off that their monthly mortgage payments would be higher as a result or would be paid off over a longer period of time.
The average UK house price is £285,000, according to the Office for National Statistics. A 99% mortgage on a house costing that much would see the mortgagor pay just £2,850 as a deposit. That’s far below the £14,250 they would pay on a 5% mortgage or the £28,500 deposit on a 10% mortgage and so on.
High deposits have proved a huge barrier for people looking to get on the housing ladder, particularly if covering record-high rents affects their ability to save.
Halifax said in January that the average deposit for first-time buyers was £53,414, around 19% of the purchase price of a home. That puts a home out of reach for many, particularly solo buyers or people without help from the ‘bank of mum and dad’.
But the trade-off is that a 99% mortgage could mean higher payments and leave buyers at risk of defaulting on their mortgage.
There were similar warnings last year when Skipton Building Society announced a new 100% mortgage for first-time buyers. That sparked fears of a return to the financial crisis in 2008 when banks buckled after lending large amounts of money to people who could not pay it back.
What would 99% mortgages mean for house prices?
House prices soared to record highs as recently as two years ago but since then they have stagnated and started to fall.
That’s due to the cost of living crisis and rising interest rates affecting buyers’ ability to spend on buying a home and covering the mortgage, particularly after Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget disaster in September 2022 sent rates surging.
Overall, the average UK house price decreased by 1.4% between December 2022 and 2023, according to ONS, meaning properties typically cost £4,000 less than 12 months previously.
Prices have fallen since the highs of July 2022 when annual inflation was 13.8%. But house-hunters are still paying more than £30,000 more than before the pandemic.
Bringing in a 99% mortgage scheme is a demand-side solution to a supply-side issue.
Reducing the amount people would have to pay as a deposit would open up homeownership to more people, increasing demand in the housing market.
That would make homes more sought after and drive up prices, particularly with sellers able to capitalise on greater spending power too.
The only way prices wouldn’t rise in this case is if supply was increased by building more homes.
The government has a long-standing target of building 300,000 homes per year by the mid-2020s.
It has, so far, failed to hit that mark, delivering around 235,000 homes last year.
Nor are ministers likely to hit the 2019 Conservative manifesto any time soon. With the UK in recession, the construction industry is experiencing a slowdown and the most recent statistics from the National House Building Council (NHBC) show a 44% drop off in new homes being registered in 2023 compared with 2022.
NHBC figures cover between 70 and 80% of new homes built in the UK and are an early indicator of how many homes are set to be delivered in future. All signs point to further falls in 2024, which is bad news for the housing crisis.
The government recently announced it was investing an extra £3bn into delivering 20,000 new affordable homes across England.
But they face an uphill battle in the current climate: almost 7,500 social homes in England were lost through the Right to Buy scheme last year, according to the Local Government Association.
What might 99% mortgages mean for the general election?
The housing crisis is likely to be a big issue on the campaign trail ahead of the general election.
Sunak will be keen to prove his party is the ‘party of homeownership’ as the Tories proclaim themselves to be.
A mortgage guarantee scheme covering 95% mortgages is already in place until June 2025 has allowed more than 39,000 households to buy a home, according to the Treasury.
In fact, the Conservative government has increased the number of people getting on to the housing ladder in recent years.
More than 370,000 people bought a house for the first-time in 2022, according to analysis from Money.co.uk, up from 351,300 in 2019 albeit down from 408,379 buyers in 2021 in a rise driven by a stamp duty holiday.
But there are still a number of people who are trapped in the private rented sector and afford to get on the housing ladder – and they could have more of a say in the polls.
Recent analysis from Generation Rent found the growth of private renting in the past decade has given renters more political power.
The pressure group found 194 constituencies in England have populations containing 20% or more private renters, up from 114 in 2011.
The rise comes alongside a 1.1 million rise in the number of renting households in England in the last 10 years, up to 4.8m.
With frustration over the lack of progress on the Renters Reform Bill and rents hitting record highs, offering a way out of private renting could prove enticing to voters.
But it might take more than 99% mortgages to turnaround the Tory deficit in the polls.
Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief executive of Generation Rent, said: “It is getting harder for politicians to ignore renters. The renter population continued to grow in the 2010s, but because many of us have been pushed out of city constituencies by high rents and the need for family homes, renters’ political power has grown even more, and could make a difference in many more seats at future elections.”
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The global house price decline – the one triggered by a rapid surge in interest rates in 2022 – appears to be over. Data from multiple countries, including Ireland, show the fall in prices has bottomed out with values on an upward trend again.
Part of it of relates to the prospect of lower interest rates later this year.
Australia and New Zealand, two bellwether markets that reacted quickly and negatively to the rise in borrowing costs, are growing again.
In the EU, prices rose at a nominal rate of 0.8 per cent quarter on quarter in the three months to September, reversing the fall seen at the start of the year, Eurostat data shows.
[ Governments used to boast about higher house prices – not anymore ]
The latest Irish figures show prices nationally rose by 4.4 per cent in the 12 months to December with the rate of price growth rising for four consecutive months. Prices were up by 1.5 per cent on a monthly basis, the fastest level of monthly growth seen in nearly two years.
A perfect storm of still-high mortgage rates and rising home prices and historically low levels of housing stock puts home ownership out of reach for many.
[ Irish house prices defy impact of higher interest rates to rise by 4.4% in 2023 ]
The first-time-buyers segment of the market here is aided by the various Government-backed help-to-buy schemes. The latest official figures show the cost of new dwellings in the fourth quarter of 2023 were 9.2 per cent higher than in the corresponding quarter of 2022, double the headline rate of inflation for all homes.
Where the next gyration of the market brings us is anyone’s guess. The optimistic notion that rising wages combined with moderately rising house prices could bridge the affordability gap in favour of buyers while easing the pressure on the rental market remains an economic paradigm that never really plays out.