The Central Statistics Office (CSO) compiles monthly statistics on the volume of purchases of residential property, together with the monthly Residential Property Price Index (RPPI). The latest RPPI statistics available are for August 2023 and provide statistics on the average prices paid for a residential property in the 12 months to August 2023. In Dublin, the average price of a home in the 12 months to August was €533,717, in the Cork City Council area it was €333,222 and in the Cork County Council area it was €338,331. The average price of a home purchased in the 12 months to August 2023 at market rates by household buyers across different regions is given in Table 1.
Table 1: Average price of residential dwellings purchased at market prices by household buyers in the 12 months to August 2023
|
Region
|
Average Price
|
|
Border Excluding Louth
|
€ 202,674
|
|
Midland
|
€ 239,571
|
|
West
|
€ 268,057
|
|
Dublin
|
€ 533,717
|
|
Mid-East including Louth
|
€ 379,307
|
|
Mid-West including South Tipperary
|
€ 249,127
|
|
South-East excluding South Tipperary
|
€ 275,247
|
|
South-West
|
€ 323,867
|
|
National
|
€ 367,240
|
In relation of the approximate income needed to afford a home, it depends on a variety of circumstances individual to each buyer. These include, inter alia, their level of savings, whether they are a first-time or second and subsequent buyer, their eligibility for various government schemes and the interest rate on their mortgage. The CSO’s ‘Earnings Analysis using Administrative Data Sources’ show that in 2022, the average salary nationally was €52,053. In Dublin, the average salary was €60,804 and in Cork it was €52,284. Based on these figures, for example, a First Time Buyer couple with each on the average income would be able to borrow just over €416,000. To note, this is an indicative amount based on national average wages and is used as an example. With the inclusion of a 10 per cent deposit, that couple could purchase a home in 7 of the 8 regions above, as well as at the national average price. Encouragingly, this level of affordability (7 out of 8 regions) holds when median as opposed to average income is used.
I would also advise people to check their eligibility for the various government schemes such as Help to Buy, First Home and the Local Authority Home Loan, which all boost affordability and help people buy their own home.
Key to alleviating the cost of housing is to increase the supply of homes and recent indicators on housing supply have been encouraging. In Q3 2023, there were 8,452 new homes completed, 14.4 per cent higher than Q3 2022. In the 12 months to end September 2023, 31,567 new homes were completed. This is the highest number of new homes built in any 12 month period since the CSO series began in 2011. In the 12 months to end September 2023, 29,961 new homes commenced construction, the highest rolling 12 month figure since March 2022.
