Cavan property prices likely to keep rising

Strong demand for houses in Cavan is expected to continue into 2022, with people paying up to 20% above guide price in the county this year.

The pandemic and the advent of home working has encouraged people to move from Dublin and other cities to the countryside, or in some cases to return home.

The trend is set to continue. “We’ve seen a lot of people looking to return home to Cavan,” says auctioneer Raymond Smith.

“They’re moving from other areas when they have the option to work remotely. A lot of people who were forced to move home, maybe from another country, have since settled in Cavan and have subsequently bought.”

This demand has had its impact on the market in Cavan: “The market has been very healthy and surpassed even our expectations as agents. On average, property prices were selling about 10% above the guide price.”

The trend looks set to continue into 2022 also, with this year’s rise in prices expected to continue:

“I’d say this year in Cavan, it was more of a 15 to 20% increase as opposed to 10%. It was kind of ridiculous at the beginning of the year. It went up by 10% but there was another 10% by buyers. There was a lot of healthy competition for most properties.”

The latest Daft.ie property price report showed prices in Cavan rose 14% last year (see article across).

“I do think it’ll be a healthy year again. There’ll be a price increase again, I think, albeit maybe a little bit more moderate than what it has been,” predicts Raymond.

The push towards more permanent solutions and measures around working from home is something the auctioneer thinks will continue to entice people to a more rural way of life.

“Cavan is a very affordable county compared to the likes of Meath, Westmeath, Dublin obviously and Louth. People see Cavan as a good county.”

Demand

However, inflation is expected to pose a challenge going forward and is likely to impact on the supply of new houses.

The cost of wood and other building materials has risen over recent months due to an uptake in demand and a lack of supply due to the impact of the pandemic.

Raymond feels this will play a role in pushing up prices in Cavan and other counties again next year:

“I think some kind of initiative needs to be brought out to reduce VAT on materials because they have escalated. If the prices for materials had stayed the same as they were in 2019, then we would be building houses in Cavan but the fact prices have risen so much means it's not viable to build in Cavan.”