Property market causing problems for first time buyers

Photo: Ian Muttoo via Flickr cc.

For most people with a desire to have their own property it is getting harder by the day, especially in Dublin where prices have risen by almost 25% over the past year.

Prices in the Dublin 8 area are at their highest since before the collapse of the Celtic Tiger in 2008, and this is crippling a lot of people who are interested in buying their first house.

House prices have gone up in the capital by over €50,000 on average over the past year.

It is not just the price of buying a house that has risen but the price of renting has also increased in recent times.

According to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), the average rent in Dublin is €1275 a month for a house and €1134 for an apartment while the rest of the country’s average price is €648 for a house and €640 for an apartment.

Figures from Daft.ie show that the average price in the Dublin 8 area is much higher than the PRTB average for Co. Dublin. It is €1657 a month for a house, while it is €1308 for the same time period for an apartment.

With prices so high, people are beginning to see some value in the market which has led to an increase in the amount of houses going up for sale around Dublin. However, there is more going on in other areas of Dublin than in the Liberties, with three bedroom houses in the Southside being the most sought after.

Many people are worried that there is a mini housing bubble in Dublin at the moment, as the rest of the country has not seen the same sharp increase in house prices that the capital is currently experiencing.

You can read this story in full in The Liberty print edition which is available for on Wednesday 22 October.