House prices in Cork up 43% in the county and 33% in the city from levels at the start of the pandemic 

Listed house prices in Cork have risen by 43% in the county and 33% in the city above the level seen at the start of the covid pandemic.

That’s according to the latest daft.ie House Price Report.

It shows that the average price of a home in Cork city at the end of the third quarter of the year was €354,307, and the average price of a home in the county was €312,872.

The price represents an almost 4% rise from a year previously in the city and a rise of 7% in the county.

Speaking to The Echo, Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said the report shows that the Government’s housing plan is not working.

“We need a radical change in direction if we are to address the deepening housing and homelessness crisis,” he said.

Mr Ó Laoghaire called for a dramatic increase and acceleration in the delivery of social, affordable rental and affordable purchase homes.

The report showed that the typical listed price nationwide in the third quarter of 2024 was €344,848.

That figure was 6.2% higher than in the same period a year earlier, and 37% higher than at the onset of the covid-19 pandemic.

In Munster, listed prices rose by an average of 3.8% between June and September.

The report noted the third quarter of 2024 saw the highest level of market heat — as measured by the premium paid by buyers above the listed price — than at any other time since the start of 2010.

Across the country, the typical transaction price in the third quarter of 2024 was 5.4% above the listed price.

The number of second-hand homes available to buy nationwide on September 1 stood at less than 11,900, down 12% year-on-year.

There were just over 3,300 second-hand homes for sale in Munster on September 1, down 11% on the same date a year ago and well below half the 2015 to 2019 average of 8,400.

Speaking about the report’s findings, associate professor in economics at Trinity College Dublin Ronan Lyons said the figures 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.”

Frank O’Connor, of Anois, said that vacant and derelict houses need to be utilised as they offer “serious potential for homes”.

“They are more sustainable in comparison to a new build, with the majority located in high demand locations such at the urban centres of towns and cities where the services — such as water — are all in place.

“Leaving them empty is contributing to inflating costs for those trying to rent or buy through ensuring housing scarcity,” Mr O’Connor added.