Home sales in Ireland fell in 2016 but overall value was up over 7%

Property sales in Ireland fell by 3.5% in 2016 but the total value of homes sold increased by 7.4% to over €11.5 billion, the latest research shows.

Dublin’s dominance of the property market continued with the capital city accounting for a third of all property sales in 2016 and while there was a decline of 2.4% on the number of sales in 2015, the value of transactions actually increased by almost 13% to over €6 billion.

According to the analysis of data from the property price register by property website MyHome, this means Dublin sales accounts for over half the value of Irish residential property sales. Cork with 5,322 house sales, a drop of 1.3%, accounted for 11% of the total number of transactions.

Indeed, sales were up in only six counties with Sligo recording a 12% increase and Waterford up almost 11%. Other positive movers were Laois with a rise 5.7%, Offaly up 3.3%, Monaghan up 4% and Tipperary up 1%.

According to MyHome managing director Angela Keegan the figures reflected the two main trends in the Irish property market, namely lack of supply and rising prices. She pointed out that while the increase in top counties was positive, the general decline in the number of transactions was an ongoing concern.

‘While some positive property news is very welcome for Sligo, Waterford and the Midlands, the fact remains that the number of sales has declined in 20 other counties. Galway is down nearly 13%, Kilkenny is down 12% and Mayo is down 11%. It’s the same in Limerick which is down over 9% while Donegal is down 8%,’ she said.

‘We have approximately two million properties in Ireland and in a normal market around 4% or 80,000 of these would be changing hands each year. As this analysis shows we are a long way short of that. At the moment there are 18,900 residential properties for sale on MyHome, 12% down on this time last year. Clearly it is going to take some time for the property market to return to equilibrium,’ Keegan added.

The most expensive house sold in Ireland last year was the Lyons Estate in Kildare which sold for over €12 million while at the other end of the scale the cheapest property was at Newtown Clogher Claremorris in County Mayor for just €5,260.