Average house prices in Galway City reach €389k, the highest in Ireland after Dublin

According to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report, in Galway City prices in the third quarter of 2024 were 4pc higher than a year previously.

The average price of a home is now €389,000, 40pc above the level seen at the start of the Covid19 pandemic.

In the rest of Galway, prices in the third quarter of 2024 were 7pc higher than a year previously.

The average price of a home in the county is now €301,000, 50pc above the level seen at the start of the Covid19 pandemic.

Nationally, housing prices rose by an average of 3.1pc in the third quarter of 2024. The typical listed price nationwide in the third quarter of 2024 was €344,848, 6.2pc higher than in the same period a year earlier and 37pc higher than at the onset of the Covid19 pandemic.

Among the major Irish cities, the report shows that Galway City has the highest average house price in the country after Dublin City, where average prices have reached €463,265 (up 6.2pc).

They are followed by Cork City (€354,307, up 3.8pc), Limerick City (€292,437, up 9.7pc) and Waterford City (€249,792, up 3.4pc). While the rest of the country registered an average price of €294,541 (up 6.3pc).

The number of second-hand homes available to buy nationwide on September 1 stood at less than 11,900, down 12pc year-on-year, the fifteenth month of contracting supply. This is a new low for this time of year, surpassing the previous low of 12,900 homes on September 1 2021, just after lockdowns ended.

Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said: "The figures in this latest House Price Report give further support to the suspicion that the recovery of the second-hand market in Ireland from the double hit of the early 2020s is likely to take time as the true number of homes needed each year, if the housing deficit is to be addressed is close to twice what was built last year."

He added: "The slow decline in mortgage interest rates will help the market, as will sitting homeowners coming off fixed-rate mortgages. But these factors are largely outside of policymaker control. The underlying issue remains a lack of homes, of all kinds, and this should remain the focus for policymakers before and after the next election."