Asking prices for homes across the country increased by an average of 3.7% in the first quarter of 2025, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report, reports RTE.
The report indicates that the typical listed price nationwide during this period was €346,048—representing an 11.6% rise compared to the same time last year and a 35% increase since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The study found that the current rate of inflation in the housing market is the second-highest recorded in the decade since mortgage market rules were introduced, surpassed only by the surge seen in early 2017, reports RTE.
According to Daft, this rapid inflation is primarily being driven by price increases in Dublin and the rest of Leinster.
The report states that inflation in the capital has reached 12.2%, the highest in eight years, while in the rest of Leinster, prices have risen by 13.4% annually—the highest rate since early 2017.
It also found that Galway (13.2%) and Limerick (13.8%) are experiencing inflation rates above the national average, whereas price growth in Waterford (11.2%) and Cork (9.2%) is more moderate, reports RTE.
Daft reported that the average listed price for a home is now €460,726 in Dublin, €409,482 in Galway city, and €358,676 in Cork city.
These sharp increases in asking prices coincide with extremely limited housing supply, with the report showing that fewer than 9,300 second-hand homes were available for purchase nationwide as of 1 March, reports RTE.
This figure represents a 17% decline compared to the previous year and is the lowest total ever recorded in data going back to January 2007.
Report author and Trinity College Dublin economist Ronan Lyons attributed these price increases to the scarcity of second-hand properties on the market.
“Even as transactions of newly-built homes increase, the second-hand market is at its tightest in a series going back almost two decades. The latest surge in inflation is due, at least in part, to the well-flagged increase in interest rates, which saw existing homeowners fix their rates, often for many years, with consequences for liquidity in the second-hand market,” reports RTE.
“But while the increase in interest rates has played a role, the underlying issue remains the housing deficit. The mortgage market rules were introduced a decade ago to prevent a repeat of the loose lending that drove Ireland’s Celtic Tiger bubble and crash. Nonetheless, prices are up 75% since then, not because of too much credit but because of too few homes,” Mr Lyons added, reports RTE.
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