Cork house prices drop by 7%

HOUSE prices in Cork city and county have dropped around 7 percent when compared with the same period last year.

According to that latest housing market report from Daft.ie, in the second quarter of this year, the average price of a house in the county was €218,685 which is 6.9 percent lower than a year previously.

In the city, the average sales price was €265,637, down 7.1 percent.

Nationally, sale prices fell by an average of 3.3 percent in the year to June.

The new report shows there has been a 0.2 percent rise in rents nationwide in the year to June 2020 with the average monthly listed rent standing at €1,402.

The report shows that the number of properties posted for sale or to rent during June indicates a sharp recovery in market activity last month, compared to April and May, particularly in the sales segment.

There were over 5,200 properties listed for sale in June - just 15 percent lower than in the same month in 2019.

In the rental segment, there were 38 percent more homes advertised to rent in June 2020 than a year previously.

Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft Report, said: “Market activity rebounded strongly in June, perhaps reflecting an element of pent-up demand carried over from April and May. This is particularly the case for sales, where over 5,200 homes were listed for sale during the month, compared to roughly 2,000 in both April and May. Nonetheless, the figure remains below the total for June 2019.

“In the rental segment, however, significantly more homes were listed in June this year than last. The concern remains that policymakers see this as the underlying problem solved. While the new government may want to favour the construction of owner-occupied homes, the fundamental shortages are in the social and market rental segments and it is those segments that must be the focus for policymakers over the coming years.”

Mr Lyons stressed that the country "is still in need of hundreds of thousands of homes" principally for smaller households of one to two persons in these social and market rental sectors which are in or close to the biggest cities and towns. 

"Ireland is used to building homes for bigger households, away from the big cities and for owner-occupiers. Repositioning the construction sector to build what the country needs is one of the big challenges for the new government," he added.