The average price of a second-hand, three-bed semi in Donegal rose by 3.4 per cent in the first three months of the year, according to the latest national survey by Real Estate Alliance.
The average cost of three-bed homes in the county is now €150,000 – up from an average of €145,000 in December 2022, the Q1 REA Average House Price Index shows.
By concentrating on the actual sale price of three-bed semis, the survey provides an up-to-date picture of the second-hand property market in towns and cities countrywide. Across County Donegal, first-time buyers made up 30 per cent of the market during the first quarter of this year with 20 per cent coming from buyers moving out of cities.
The average time taken to complete a sale in the county is four weeks, and remains unchanged from the previous quarter, the survey shows.
In Bundoran, the average price for a three-bed semi is now €155,000, up 3.33 per cent from an average of €150,000 in the previous quarter, while the time to sell has fallen by one week to three. The average cost of a similar property in Milford is now €145,000 – up by 3.57 per cent from an average of €140,000 in the previous quarter, while the time to sell remaining at four weeks.
“This quarter has been characterised by the traditional strong demand from buyers in Northern Ireland looking for holiday homes, as well as a strong local market,” said Roger McCarrick of REA McCarrick and Sons, in Bundoran.
Across the rest of Ireland, the actual selling price of a three-bedroomed semi-detached rose by 0.6 per cent over the past three months to €293,343 – representing an annual increase of 5.3 per cent.
House prices in Dublin recovered after a pre-Christmas fall and rose by 0.5 per cent to €498,333 in the past three months, slightly exceeding last September’s prices and showing an annual rise of 3.5 per cent.
Mirroring the capital, cities outside Dublin experienced a 0.4 per cent rise to an average selling price of €310,250.
The smallest percentage increases came in commuter counties where average prices went from €312,778 to €313,056 – a rise of just 0.1 per cent on average over three months.
The country’s large towns saw the largest quarterly increase at 1 per cent, with prices now averaging €211,776 and properties selling faster at an average of five weeks, than in cities or commuter areas.
Nationally, first-time purchasers make up 60 per cent of the market, the quarterly survey has found.
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