Average price of home in Kilkenny now 54% above level at start of Covid-19 pandemic

House prices in Kilkenny in the second quarter of 2025 were 14% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 2% seen in the 12 months to March 2024. The average price of a home is now €331,000, 54% above the level seen at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nationally, housing prices rose by an average of 3% during the second quarter of 2025, 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 second quarter of the year was €357,851, 12.3% higher than a year previously and 40% higher than at the onset of the covid19 pandemic.

The current rate of inflation in the market is the highest seen in the ten years since mortgage market rules were introduced. The surge in inflation is relatively broadly based, with the Dublin figure (12.3%) in line with the average for the rest of the country. In the rest of Leinster, the annual increase in prices is 14.3%. Inflation is also close to the national average in Galway city (12.5%) and Limerick city (12.8%). In Waterford City, the rate is higher again (15.2%) while in Cork city (8.6%) the increase in prices is slower.
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The strong increases in housing prices are related, once again, to very tight supply. The number of second-hand homes available to buy nationwide on June 1 stood at close to 12,100. This is largely unchanged from the figure a year ago and less than half the pre-covid average of almost 25,000.

Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said: “The fastest increase in housing prices since mortgage market rules were introduced a decade ago highlights the importance of addressing Ireland’s chronic and worsening housing shortage. The substantial increases over the past year in almost all parts of the country are linked to the lack of second-hand supply. This in turn is related to the increase in interest rates earlier in the decade.

As interest rates come down and mortgage-holders come off their fixed rate terms, the picture for second-hand supply will improve. There are already some tentative signs in Dublin of an increase in second-hand supply. Nonetheless, the second-hand market is only part of the solution. Ultimately, policymakers have to address their failure to recognise and provide the framework for enough new homes each year.”