New report compares prices of three-bedroom semi-detached homes across Ireland

It claims that asking price inflation accelerated into double-digit territory in 2017.

MyHome.ie, a website used to aid the search of home-hunters in Ireland, has published their Q4 property report for 2017 which compares and contrasts the vast difference in housing prices across the country. The report, posted as a downloadable version on their website, was compiled in association with financial advisory services firm Davy and it forecasts that house price inflation will increase by 8% in 2018. And while rates are indeed set to rise, it's believed that this year's inflation rate will accelerate at a slightly slower pace than before due to a tightening of the Central Bank lending rules, according to the report. While asking prices fell back by 1% nationally in the final quarter and 0.4% in Dublin– as per normal seasonal trends – 2017 was a year of robust inflation, with prices rising by 10.2% nationally and 11.1% in Dublin. The median asking price for a three-bedroom semi-detached home in Ireland, according to sales nationally, was €242,000 in the final quarter. In Dublin the median price was €330,000 compared with €195,000 in the rest of Ireland. The report shows the enormous difference in asking price for homes across the country, with, unsurprisingly, Dublin coming out on top. The capital city has an average asking price of €295,000 per home, with Wicklow coming in second with a marginally lower €293,000. According to the infographic below, Longford boasts the most reasonable asking price with an average of a mere €75,000. This means that the average home in Dublin is almost four times (3.93333333) the price of the average home in Longford. The prices listed below are asking prices for three-bedroom semi-detached homes around the country. According to Angela Keegan, Managing Director of MyHome.ie, the price increases of 2017 were largely driven by strong jobs growth, rising incomes and increasing competition among buyers for the limited number of homes available. She believes that the Help to Buy scheme and the easing of mortgage lending rules by the Central Bank of Ireland led to an undoubted increase in first time-buyer activity, as well as an increase in prices. As a result of those policy interventions, prices hit double digit growth. The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, Chief Economist at Davy, said the tighter Central Bank rules will serve to slow house price inflation in Dublin. "Homebuyers in Dublin have been taking out higher levels of mortgage debt, but with the availability of credit constrained, further price increases will also be curtailed slightly in 2018. However double-digit price gains are likely to continue outside the capital where the recovery began later, prices are cheaper and there is still scope for leverage on mortgage lending to rise." "For example the median first-time-buyer in Dublin during the summer had an income of €77,000, a deposit of €52,800 and purchased a home worth €321,000. This meant in Dublin the median house price-to-income ratio for first time buyers was 4.2x. However, prices are less stretched in other areas of the country. The median first-time-buyer in Leinster had an income of €56,000, deposit of €22,000 but purchased a house worth €179,000 – implying a house price-to-income ratio of just 3.2x". "One of the benefits of rising house prices is a reduction in the number of people in negative equity. Many Irish households have been unwilling to move home due to their stretched finances, specifically their lack of housing equity.