Kilkenny house prices roar towards Celtic Tiger peak, with 7% jump - latest Daft report

House prices in Kilkenny in the third quarter of 2023 were 7% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 8% seen a year ago. The average price of a home is now €304,000, just 6% below its Celtic Tiger peak.

Nationally, housing prices in the third quarter of 2023 rose by 1.1% compared to the second quarter of the year, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report released today by Ireland’s largest property website, Daft.ie. The typical listed price nationwide in the third quarter of the year was €322,602, 3.7% higher than a year ago and roughly 13% below the Celtic Tiger peak.

Trends in prices differ considerably across the country. Prices in Dublin in the third quarter of the year were just 1.4% higher than a year ago, the lowest rate of inflation since prices started to rebound in late 2020. Similarly, prices in Cork city were just 1.7% higher, year-on-year, while in Galway, Limerick and Waterford cities, the rate of annual increase was higher – at between 3.9% and 4.7%. Outside the main cities, inflation was typically greater, with year-on-year increases of 4% in Leinster, almost 6% in Munster and just over 8% in Connacht-Ulster.

The number of homes available to buy nationwide on September 1 stood at just under 12,200. This is down over 20% year-on-year, compared to the almost 15,500 available to buy on the same date a year previously, and remains well below the 2019 average of 24,200. The fall in availability, which started in the middle of the year, can be seen in all major regions of the country.

"Prices continue to rise – albeit at a slower rate than has become common over the last decade. That is the key takeaway from this latest Daft Report. Having been largely static in the second half of 2022, and again in the first three months of this year, prices have risen since then, says the report's author Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin.

“The availability of homes is down over 20% year-on-year, at levels of availability only previously seen during the pandemic. While the flow of properties coming on to the market has fallen, it is down only slightly comparing the last year with the previous 12 month period. With supply only down slightly but availability down a lot, demand is holding up far better than might have been expected given the rise in interest rates.

"The number of homes being built in the country has held up remarkably well, with roughly 30,000 homes expected to be built this year, close to last year’s total. There is a shift away from private rental and into various forms of subsidised housing, including cost rental.

"But in the sales segment, the second-hand market remains very tight. This came about originally because of the pandemic but the market has never fully recovered. With interest rates outside of the control of local policymakers, the other solution is to continue to increase the rate of completions.”