Eight per cent rise in Cavan’s house prices

The average price of a home in the Breffni county is now €162,000, 58% above its lowest point, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report.

House prices in County Cavan in the final three months of 2020 were eight per cent higher than a year previously, compared to a fall of 4% seen a year ago. The average price of a home in the Breffni county is now €162,000, 58% above its lowest point, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report.

The national average listed price of housing rose by 7.4% in the year to December 2020, according to the report released last week by Ireland’s largest property website, daft.ie. It represents the largest such increase in three years. The average sale price nationwide in the final quarter of 2020 was €269,522, up from €250,766 a year ago and up 64% from its lowest point in early 2013 and 27% lower than the Celtic Tiger peak.Listed prices rose in all 54 markets contained in the Daft.ie Report in 2020.The total number of properties available to buy on December 1 was less than 15,400, the lowest figure for stock nationally in almost 15 years. This represents a fall of 31% nationwide.

Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin, said, while most economists would have predicted a fall in house prices due to COVID-19, the opposite occurred.

“In other words, housing demand held up remarkably well during the year. The same cannot be said for housing supply. The first lockdown brought construction to a halt, while restrictions throughout the year have taken their toll on the number of second-hand homes put up on the market. The result is that the supply of homes to buy online is at a post-Celtic Tiger low. A normalising of social and economic activity in 2021 will undoubtedly ease the situation somewhat. Nonetheless, the underlying issue remains: a chronic and worsening undersupply of new homes, in a country with strong need for housing over the coming decades," he said.