Spiralling prices mean Dublin is seeing rush of homes selling for €1m

The era of the €1m home has dawned in Dublin, with one in every 17 houses sold in the capital over the past 12 weeks ranking as millionaire properties.

n Irish Independent study has revealed a startling 30pc increase in the number of €1m-plus homes selling in Dublin over the space of just 12 months.

Nationwide, there has been a 10pc hike in the number of €1m-plus home sales – with sales firmly focused on counties in the south and east.

However, 10 counties didn’t register a single million-euro property sale over January to March in 2021 and 2022, all focused along the Border and west.

Dublin’s price spiral has also affected surrounding counties, in particular Wicklow, where seven homes have sold since January 1 for more than €1m – the most expensive, Wilford in Bray, selling for €2.95m.

Of the 750 properties sold in Dublin over January to March, a remarkable total of 44 fetched more than €1m.

The most expensive residential property sold, Dalguise on the Monkstown Road, went for €12m.

Wilton, on Shrewsbury Road in Ballsbridge, sold for €6.25m in February – underlining the road’s reputation as Ireland’s ‘millionaire mile’.

The road is also home to Walford, Ireland’s most expensive home, which was bought for €58m in 2005 at the height of the Celtic Tiger.

While the bulk of the 44 properties sold over the past three months in Dublin ranked at sums varying between €1m and €2m, others made between €3m and €4m.

That represents a 30pc hike in million-euro home sales in Dublin, with 44 sold over January to March 2022 compared with 34 over January to March 2021.

Nationally, 72 homes in 13 counties sold for €1m or more in the first quarter of the year – a 10pc hike on the 66 €1m-plus homes sold in 13 counties over the same period last year.

An Irish Independent analysis of the Property Service Regulatory Authority’s residential price register revealed that families without major savings and dependent on the average industrial wage now face an increasingly difficult task to secure a modern property in Dublin city.

Ireland’s average industrial salary is slightly more than €47,000 – with average Dublin detached home prices now equating to almost 13 years of total earnings.

The survey also highlighted how Ireland now effectively has a two-tier property market – the Greater Dublin Area and the rest of Ireland.

While 44 properties were sold in Dublin since January 1 for €1m or more, only 12 other counties registered residential property sales in excess of €1m.

Leading property developer Michael O’Flynn said he did not anticipate the property price spiral easing soon because demand continued to outstrip supply.

“I see no good news in terms of property prices because input costs remain a major problem,” he said.

“We simply don’t have enough zoned land. Land is one of the core raw material inputs, added to rising house construction costs due to global supply chain issues.

“We also have the impact of the Ukrainian war. It does not spell any good news on the cost side.”

Mr O’Flynn said that if land and construction costs rose, both would have an inevitable ongoing impact on house prices.

Eight of the 12 non-Dublin counties that made the million-euro house list this year registered an increase in million-euro property sales over 12 months.

This year, Limerick recorded two sales in excess of €1m – one of which involved a beautiful Georgian house lovingly restored by Princess Diana’s former builder.

Four counties – Carlow, Kerry, Kilkenny and Tipperary – had just one residential property sale worth €1m or more.

Kerry’s property sale involved Red Cliff House at Inch, once the summer home of disgraced Bishop Eamon Casey. Red Cliff House, which boasts panoramic views out over Inch Beach and toward the Macgillycuddy Reeks, sold for €1.48m.

The property – which has seven bedrooms and five bathrooms – was built as a hunting lodge for Lord Ventry in 1784 in the late Georgian villa style.

Over the next 200 years, it served as a family home, a guest house, a home for a Church of Ireland rector and as a holiday home and retreat for Irish bishops.

But Red Cliff is best known as the former residence of the late Bishop Casey and was the property where he spent time with Annie Murphy, with whom he later had a son, Peter.

A famous photograph shows Ms Murphy standing by the then-red painted gates leading up to Red Cliff House.

Thirteen counties didn’t register a single residential property sale worth more than €1m between January and March.

Dublin’s influence on Wicklow property prices is borne out by the fact the Republic’s second city, Cork, recorded five property sales worth €1m or more – two fewer than Wicklow, which has a population just over one-quarter that of Cork.

Million-euro property sales in Wicklow rose by 40pc over 12 months. However, Cork did record the largest property sale outside Dublin since January 1, with €4.75m paid for Raffeen at Scilly in Kinsale, a stunning property with views over the harbour.

The average Dublin property sale price has now reached €580,400 amid warnings there is no sign of Ireland’s supply-related price spiral easing before late 2023.

The €580,400 average sale price of a residential home in Dublin is now €80,000 more than the same figure last September, a 15pc hike in the space of just four months as Ireland’s property market continues to soar.

While average home prices in Dublin climbed close to €600,000 in January, prices in other Leinster counties are now as low as one-third those of the capital.

The average residential property sold last January in Carlow for €192,500 while Laois (€234,000), Louth (€256,250), Offaly (€231,000) and Kilkenny (€276,00) also came in at a fraction of Dublin prices.

However, counties firmly within Dublin’s commuter belt witnessed average property prices soaring to record highs.

In Wicklow, the average price rose to €429,000, while it rose to €352,000 in Kildare and €329,000 in Meath. Wexford ranked at €233,000.

In contrast, prices rose by less dramatic amounts in Cork (€294,000), Limerick (€267,000), Waterford (€234,000) and Galway (€285,500).

Opposition politicians warned that the property price data raised major questions about the Coalition’s focus on regional development and
creating strategic counterweights to Dublin and the east coast.

The cheapest residential property price average in Ireland was in Leitrim at €132,000.

The most expensive property sale in Leitrim last January ranked at €350,000, paid for Attirory in Carrick-on-Shannon – in contrast to the €12m paid in Dublin for Dalguise on the Monkstown Road.

Within the Dublin market itself, houses near the coast, rail links or universities dominated price hikes.

The highest prices paid for properties in Dublin were for those in areas including Monkstown, Dalkey, Killiney, Dún Laoghaire, Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Howth, Malahide and Clontarf.

South Dublin auctioneer Robert Downey said he saw little likelihood of the market easing in the short term, with the residential property register data confirming what most believed about recent market trends.

“It is the old adage of supply and demand. There just isn’t the supply of properties on the market to cater for the demand that is out there,” he said.

He pointed out that Irish mortgage brokers now have large numbers of clients who have mortgage approval but who cannot secure a property to suit their needs.

The Dún Laoghaire-based auctioneer said it was hoped greater housing supply would begin to reach the market over the coming months although, despite the ongoing fall-out from the Covid-19 pandemic and concerns over the war in Ukraine, there was little sign of the prices easing in the short term.

So intense has the scramble for properties become that some first-time buyers exit the market after six months because they are physically exhausted from repeated viewing queues and intense bidding competitions.

Mr Downey said buyers needed to be determined.

“My advice to buyers is not to quit, to keep searching and eventually you will find a property that meets your needs.”