Average Offaly three-bed semi rises 17.35% in 2014

The price of an average three-bed semi in Offaly rose by 17.35% in 2014, according to a national survey carried out by Real Estate Alliance.

 

The Real Estate Alliance Average House Index concentrates on Ireland’s typical stock home, the three-bed semi, giving an accurate picture of the property market in towns and cities countrywide.

 

The average three-bed semi-detached house in Offaly now costs €115,000, with the market seeing a 6.48% rise in Q4 from September to December, and houses now taking seven weeks to sell, down from 12 weeks in June 2014.

 

REA Heffernan in Offaly are predicting a rise of 5% in prices in 2015, following the ending of the uncertainty over the Central Bank’s mortgage deposit rules.

 

Nationally, the average three-bed semi now costs €184,713, the latest REA survey has found – a rise of 2.63% on the Q4 figure of €179,981.

 

While every county in the State showed an increase in three-bed semi prices, the market slowed down in the Dublin area between September and December 2014 (Q4) with one area registering a -6.67% drop in prices.

 

While semis in Dublin recorded a 21.66% increase over the year, the biggest rise was in the commuter counties and large cities such as Cork and Galway.

 

Property in what is now termed Tier Two rose by 26.24% from €157,824 to €199,235.

 

And while the Dublin market slowed to just an 0.89% increase in Q4, and the commuter counties rose by 3.42%, the biggest upswing came in the rest of the country (or Tier Three), which saw a rise of 3.92% – the first time that rural Ireland had surged ahead in the figures all year.

 

“Our survey shows that in all areas of Dublin, parts of Cork City, Galway City, North Wicklow and Kildare, the price of the average semi detached house exceeds the Central Bank’s new threshold of €220,000 at which banks can lend 90% of the value,” said Real Estate Alliance CEO Philip Farrell.

 

“However, other parts of Wicklow, Kildare, Louth and Meath all offer average housing under that limit for those looking to buy in the commuter belt with accessibility to Dublin.”

 

The biggest change in buying habits in 2014 has been the return of the banks to the marketplace with the amount of cash transactions dropping from an average of 66% in December 13 to 44% in December 2014.

 

 

Real Estate Alliance (REA) is Ireland’s leading property group of Chartered Surveyors with over 50 branches nationwide, comprising many of the country’s longest-established auctioneers and estate agents.

 

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