The price of the average three-bed semi in Galway City is expected to rise by 4% in the next 12 months, according to a survey carried out by Real Estate Alliance.
Prices in the city were static at €282,500 in 2019 – with time to sell rising in Q4 2019 from eight weeks to 10.
County Galway prices rose by 3.1% to €165,000 in 2019 – with no change between September and December – and are expected to rise by a further 2% in 2020.
The REA Average House Price Survey concentrates on the actual sale price of Ireland's typical stock home, the three-bed semi, giving an up-to-date picture of the second-hand property market in towns and cities countrywide.
“We saw a slow end to the year in Galway City, with a similar number of transactions in 2019 as we saw in 2018,” said Kevin Burke of REA McGreal Burke in Galway City.
“Asking-price moderation has become a feature, with over-priced properties sitting on the market for longer.
“Due to Brexit and other factors, the second half of 2019 was slower than expected, and we feel this may have built up a small reservoir of buyers who will hopefully find their dream home in 2020, leading to a slight increase in sale prices."
Accoding to Robert McGreal of REA McGreal Burke in Loughrea, “we expect unrealised demand to be acted upon in the first half of 2020 before returning to more modest growth in line with inflation,”
Average house prices nationally fell annually for the first time since the economic recovery, the Q4 REA Average House Price Index found.
The price of a three-bedroomed semi-detached house across the country fell by -0.6% over the past year after a 4.6% annual rise in 2018.
The average family home nationally now costs €234,704, the survey found – a drop of -0.1% on the Q3 figure of €235,009.
However, drops across the country are far lower than the preceding quarter (-0.4%), indicating that some confidence returned to the market in the final 13 weeks of the year, with the prospect of a resolution to Brexit uncertainty.
Three-bed semi-detached houses in Dublin city registered a fourth consecutive quarter fall (-0.6%) since the end of September and have decreased by -4.3% compared to December 2018.
The price of the average three-bed semi-detached house in the capital’s postcode districts now stands at €425,833 – down €20,000 from €445,167 a year ago.
The absence of small investors due to Brexit uncertainty and a lack of incentives has also removed stimulus from the resales market and added to supply in many cases as landlords leave the market nationwide.
Prices fell slightly by -0.05% in the commuter counties in the past three months, with the average house now selling for €246,500 – an annual fall of 1%.
Prices in the country’s major cities outside Dublin – Cork, Galway, Waterford – remained largely unchanged
The highest annual price increases (2.8%) were once again seen in the rest of the country’s towns which rose in selling price by an average of almost €5,000 in the past year and 0.3% in the past three months to €162,207.
