Prices in the residential property market continued to cool in March, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The annual rate of residential property prices nationally slowed to 3.9% in March, compared to an annual rate of 5.1% in February. A year ago, in March 2022, prices were increasing at an annual rate of 15.1%.
Prices declined marginally by 0.6% compared to February, the third consecutive month of price declines.
Houses in Dublin remain the only regional category where prices have declined on an annual basis. Prices for houses in Dublin are down 1.2% compared to March last year.
Excluding Dublin, property prices are up nationally at 5.7% on an annual basis.
Today’s figures show that prices for new properties continue to increase as the rate slows for second-hand properties.
New homes rose in the first three months of 2023 by 11.1% compared to the same period last year. This was up on the 10.1% recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
Conversely, for second-hand properties prices were up 3.5% in the first quarter of this year compared to the first quarter of last year, which was also down on the 8.2% recorded in the fourth quarter last year.
The number of properties bought in March, at 4,132, was up 5.4% on March 2022. It was also up just over 23% on the number bought in February.
Existing dwellings accounted for 83% of properties bought. New homes accounted for just over 17%.
In the year to March, a total of 50,159 homes were purchased and filed with Revenue.
A third, or 16,738, were purchased by first-time buyers while former owner-occupiers bought 27,030, or 54%.
The balance of 6,346, or 12.7%, were bought by non-occupiers which includes local authorities, housing bodies and investors.
In March of this year, there were 1,290 purchasers by first-time buyers, an increase of 7.5% on March 2022. They bought 417 new dwellings and 970 existing homes.
The median, or mid-point, price in March nationally was €310,000. In Dublin, it was €435,000.
The highest median price in the country remains Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at €635,000 while the lowest was in Longford at €154,000.
Article Source: Property price growth cools further to 3.9% in March – CSO – Robert Shortt – RTE
