Tipperary property prices rise by €10,000 in Q3

Property prices in Tipperary have bucked the national trend by rising during the quarter, according to the latest MyHome.ie Property Report.

The report for Q3 2022, in association with Davy, shows that the median asking price for a property in the county is now €195,000. This means prices have risen by €15,500 compared with this time last year.

Asking prices for a 3-bed semi-detached house in the county fell by €5,000 over the quarter to €180,000. This means that prices in the segment rose by €15,000 compared to this time last year.

Meanwhile, the asking price for a 4-bed semi-detached house in Tipperary stayed steady over the quarter at €199,950. This price is down by €7,525 compared to this time last year.

There were 586 properties for sale in Tipperary at the end of Q3 2022 – an increase of 26% over the quarter.

The average time for a property to go sale agreed in the county and the city after being placed up for sale now stands at three months.

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The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, Chief Economist at Davy, said that the latest figures did not necessarily mean we would see persistent price falls. “Asking prices are typically weak as the busy summer trading season peters out and fell in both Q3 2018 and Q3 2019. After the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, the usual seasonal pattern has re-emerged.”

He said that there was mixed news on supply. “On one hand, new listings for sale are strong, suggesting the market is merely making up for lost time following delayed transactional activity in 2020 and 2021. However, it is most unwelcome to see construction activity curtailed by supply chain issues and rising input costs.”

He said rising interest rates will lead to slower price growth, but that pent-up demand in the market remained strong. “In July, the average mortgage approval was €288,300 – up 8% on the year. In the year to June, 16% of mortgage approvals failed to translate into a drawdown, indicative of frustrated buyers. Similarly, the 30,000 applications to avail of the Help-to-Buy scheme over the past 12 months are well in excess of claims of just 7,400. Plus, more than 1,000 applications have been lodged for the government’s First Home Scheme since it opened in July.”

He said that price growth would continue, albeit at a slower rate. “Looking forward, we expect that Irish house asking prices will grow by 6% through 2022 and by 3% in 2023. There are of course many risks to this view. Ireland potentially faces an energy crisis this winter amid fears of a full-blown European recession brought on by events in Ukraine and surging natural gas prices.”

Joanne Geary, Managing Director of MyHome.ie, said: “It appears that a number of factors have eased the runaway asking price inflation we were seeing earlier this year. This is in line with our predictions throughout the year and it is important to note that this represents a much-needed correction in the market.”

She noted that rising stock levels were a cause for optimism. “One promising sign for would-be homebuyers this quarter is increasing supply, albeit from a low base. New listings on MyHome.ie are up 33% year on year, while there has been a 25% increase in the amount of properties featured on the website since last year. This supply is badly needed, as demand is still particularly strong. On MyHome.ie, leads are up by 27% and brochure views are up 15% compared to this time last year.”

In addition, she noted that Budget 2023 could have done more for the rental market. “The supports announced for renters are welcome, but these should have been accompanied by significant supports for small landlords to encourage them to stay in the market. The failure to adequately address the predominant issue of lack of supply by supporting small landlords to stay in the market is a missed opportunity.”

The median price is the ‘middle price’. It can be thought of as the price of the house which is more expensive than exactly half of the other houses. We find that it is superior to the average in estimating the price of a typical house and that is why we use it in our county by county analysis of 3 and 4 bed semi-detached properties.