17 homes worth €1m or more are now sold every week in Ireland

The number of homeowners in Ireland whose property is worth €1m or more – making them “property millionaires” – has surpassed 5,000, according to the 2018 Daft.ie Wealth Report.

Read the Daft.ie 2018 H2 Wealth Report here.

The total number of property millionaires now stands at 5,305, a change of 452 or 9% since June of this year.

With house prices growing by 6.6% year-on-year, there are now on average 17 properties sold nationwide every week that are worth €1m or more. This represents an increase of 13% in the last 6 months alone when 15 properties worth €1m or more were exchanging hands on a weekly basis.

The highest concentration of property millionaires is in Foxrock with 1,452, followed by Dalkey (649) and Blackrock (576).

By location, the most expensive markets are all in Dublin. The average asking price in Foxrock is now €872k, followed by Mount Merrion €863k, Dalkey €825k and Sandycove €818k. By comparison, the average asking price nationwide is €257k.

Outside of Dublin, Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow is the most expensive market with average property values of €639k, this is followed by Delgany, €490k and Greystones €437k. In Munster, Kinsale is the most expensive location (€384k) with Crosshaven (€294k) and Bandon (€293k) completing the top three.

In Connacht-Ulster, Kinvara (€332k), Oughterard (€239k) and Westport (€234k) occupy the top slots.

In comparison the two least expensive markets are in Roscommon and Donegal, with the average asking price in Ballaghaderreen (Roscommon) some €777k cheaper than Sandycove at €95k, Bundoran (Donegal) is next at €103k with Ballymote/Tubbercurry (Sligo) (€106k), Castlereagh (Roscommon) (€110k) and Belturbet (Cavan) (€116k) rounding off the five least expensive.

Commenting on the figures, Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft.ie Wealth Report, said “Unsurprisingly, the country’s housing wealth is concentrated in cities. Urban Dublin makes up less than 1% of the land mass of the country but is home to over 40% of its housing wealth. The other four cities bring the urban share to roughly half. This is perfectly normal and indeed probably less stark than other countries, where greater populations drive even greater land values in the most desirable locations.

Changes in housing wealth can tell us about important changes underway in the economy. Donegal now has two of the cheapest ten markets in the country, with the Lifford/Raphoe area joining Bundoran in that list. This tallies with other evidence that Brexit-related uncertainty has taken its toll on the northern market.”

Martin Clancy of Daft.ie said: “Dublin remains the epicentre of the million-euro plus property market in Ireland. Dalkey has seen the single most expensive sale of 2018 so far with a home their changing hands for €7.8m in May. Outside Dublin, Enniskerry remains the most expensive market to buy a property in, with average house prices now nearly €640k.”

In terms of overall value, based on the 1.7m occupied dwellings in Ireland, the combined total residential property value in the country is worth just under €450 billion (€447,614,820,810). That’s up from €420 billion in June of this year and represents a daily increase of €150m.