The Irish Residential Property Market

By

John Ring Onate ireland

Following the global financial crisis of 2007-08, Ireland – like many countries – fell into recession. Nationally, average property values dropped by 53% from the peak in 2007 to the bottom of the market in 2012. During this time, and for several years thereafter, construction activity was severely depressed with little new stocking being added to the housing market. 

From 2013 onwards, demand for property in Ireland has increased annually, but the supply has not kept pace. From 2019 to 2022 – and largely due to Covid-19 lockdowns- only 20,000 new homes per annum were added to the housing stock. It is estimated that Ireland will need an average of 33,000 new homes per annum to be built each year from 2021 to 2030 just to keep pace with demand. This will continue to have an upward pressure on property prices, which have continuously risen month-on-month since 2013.

At Onate we are continuing to see strong activity in the Irish residential market despite rising interest rates and the general inflation pressures. The current inflation pressures are impacting building projects, with some developers holding off on commencing projects until inflation plateaus, further exacerbating the supply issue.

A knock-on effect of limited supply can be seen in the private rental market. In December 2016, the government brought in rental pressure zones as a measure to curtail rental increases by limiting the increase to 4% per annum in these areas. This measure has had limited success, with rents continuing to increase year on year.

The latest Daft report confirms that rents have increased by 12.6% in the last year, with  average national rent now standing at €1,618 per month. As per the most recent Daft.ie report which issued in August 2022, there are only 716 houses to rent on daft.ie, of which 292 are in Dublin.

To put this in perspective, Dublin has a population of 1.43 million (28.5 percent of the total population of Ireland). In August 2009, there were over 23,400 homes available to rent nationwide on daft.ie, nearly 8,000 of these were in Dublin and 15,400 elsewhere. A sobering view of this is for every 100 homes available to rent thirteen years ago, there are only three now on the market today.

The Irish Government has been coming under increasing pressure over the last number of years to address the worsening housing crisis.

The Government – through the local authorities and approved housing bodies – have been entering into  20 and 25 year leases on residential properties in order to give certainty of income to landlords, and certainty of tenure to tenants.

The core issue remains supply not being anywhere close to catching up to demand. Figures published in the Summary of Social Housing Assessments shows 59,427 households were assessed as being qualified and in need of social housing support as of November 2021.

Exacerbating the current supply issue has been the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The CSO has recently confirmed that there are nearly 39,000 refugees that have moved to Ireland since the war began, and the Government has been scrambling to find suitable accommodation for these refugees, who are mainly women and children.

In short, there are currently many dynamics at play in the Irish residential market which make this an area of opportunity for property investors.

Our experience at Onate has been assisting property investors purchasing properties in a very challenging market by providing them with funding certainty and working very quickly alongside them in order to ensure that they have been able to secure the properties.

One of our greatest USPs is the speed of execution, we have ensured borrower solicitors are in funds within 5 days of enquiry. 

For further information on the market or Onate please don’t hesitate to contact me by email at john@onate.com or call 00 353 87 8305276.

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