ASKING prices for houses in Limerick remained flat in the final quarter of 2024, despite a boost in the actual selling prices of homes.
This comes as local estate agents expect to see the selling prices continue rise on Shannonside across 2025.
The median asking price for a home in County Limerick remained at €275,000 in Q4 of 2024, the latest MyHome Property Price Report shows, the same as in the previous quarter.
However, compared to the same time in 2023, prices rose by €35,000, up 11 per cent.
The average price for a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Limerick also remained flat quarter-on-quarter, sitting at €265,000 – despite a rise of €17,000 compared to 2023.
The only property type to see a quarter-on-quarter price increase at the end of last year was the four-bedroom semi-detached, with an increase of €15,000, now sitting at an average of €350,000.
However, according to local estate agent Pat Dooley, the actual selling prices for a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Limerick City tells a far different story.
The REA Average House Price Index for Q4 of 2024, released at the same time as the MyHome report, showed the average selling price in Limerick City stood at €320,000, while in the county, average selling prices were €260,000.
The indication may be that while asking prices remain even, competition among prospective buyers, on account of low supply, is keeping selling prices growing.
“The continued lack of supply is still driving price inflation, and there doesn’t appear to be any signs of this abating,” said Pat Dooley of REA Dooley.
“As interest rates decrease, there will be more affordability in the market, but the supply shortage will always be the key variable to price inflation.”
REA projects that house prices in the city will increase by an average of 10 per cent across 2025, with prices in the county expected to rise by eight per cent, all fuelled by a lack of supply.
According to the real estate agent, supply is causing prices to consistently boom in some areas – most notably Limerick, Clare, Galway, Donegal, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo – where hikes were observed of over €10,000 in the average selling prices of three-bed demi-detached homes in only the past 12 weeks, along with an annual rise of 16 per cent.
“This is twice the rate of increase in commuter counties, which rose by 7.5 per cent over 2024,” REA said.
According to the MyHome report, there were 385 properties for sale in Limerick at the end of last year, a six per cent decrease over the quarter.
Author of the MyHome report, Conall MacCoille, chief economist at Bank of Ireland, believes that “demand is still fierce in the market and indeed has strengthened as the year has gone on. This demand has been impacted by rising mortgage approval values, and the first-time buyer market is particularly hot.”
Demand is, in part, helped by higher household savings, according to Mr MacCoille, who said that the average first-time buyer purchase price in the first half of 2024 sat at €375,000.
The economist added that first-time buyers are also taking on more leveraged loans, with the average loan to income ratio in the first half of 2024 exceeding that in of 2023.
Despite prices remaining steady, there are some signs of improvement nationally, he claimed, noting “there were 6,400 new homes listed for sale in the first nine weeks of Q4 2024, up 8 per cent on the same period of 2023 and housing completions in Q3 2024 were up 6 per cent on the year to 8,900.”
