Cork city housing prices fall by just over 3% in 12-month period

Housing prices in the second quarter of 2023 were just over 3% lower in Cork city compared to a year ago, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report.

The average price of a home in the city is now €320,793, 13% below its Celtic Tiger peak.

In Cork county, prices in the second quarter of 2023 were 0.5% lower than a year previously, with the average price of a home standing at €276,567.

However, prices in the city and county have increased when looking at the second quarter of the year compared to the first.

In Cork city, the quarter-on-quarter increase is 2.9% in comparison to a 4.6% increase in the county.

This was reflective of the housing market nationally, according to the property website’s latest report published today. 

Housing prices in the second quarter of 2023 were 0.5% lower than a year ago but the average listed price nationwide in the second quarter of this year was €309,648, up 2.4% on the average for the first quarter.

“Looking at the second quarter compared to the first, prices rise – and by an average of 2.4% nationally.

“This is not a trivial increase, almost matching the average quarterly increase in the covid surge between mid-2020 and mid-2022,” Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft.ie report, commented.

However, he said year-on-year comparisons are “often more solid” and more comparable with other measures of price changes, such as inflation.

“When we look at what is happening prices year-on-year, the story flips.

“The quarterly falls in prices – especially in the final quarter of 2022 and first quarter of 2023 – start to add up,” he said.

“Whether the latest quarterly figure represents a temporary bounce, after three weak quarters, or a resumption of strong upward pressure, remains to be seen.”

Commenting on the latest report, Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central Colm Burke said he hoped housing prices would continue to level off over the next 12 months.

“There’s a limit as regards house prices going up in the sense that there’s only certain money available so the builders and the developers have to be aware that there’s only a certain amount that any of the purchasers can put together and borrow and therefore I would say that we will see kind of a levelling off, I would hope, over the next 12 months, that what has happened over the last 12 months will continue,” he said.

Mr Burke also said purpose-built student accommodation in Cork city is freeing up houses for other people.

Also commenting on the latest House Price Report, Socialist Party TD for Cork North Central Mick Barry said the price of a home is “still way too high in Cork”.

“Buyers are not just paying for the house, they're covering the cost of the developer's profit, the banker's profit, Government taxes and the price of the land.

“That's why we need public housing on public land - strip out the profiteering and deliver real affordable housing for working people,” he continued.