THE Southside has been declared the golden child of Ireland’s property market with one expert saying it is now the best performing area in the entire country.
Strong sales of properties across the Southside in the first three months of this year has led to a steady rise in the price of good second hand homes across Dublin.
The average price of a second hand home in the capital now stands at
?¬262,000, according to the latest DNG Property Price Gauge, up an astonishing 9.5 per cent since this time last year.
This equates to an annual price increase on the Southside of 11.2 per cent, 8.6 per cent for the Northside and six per cent on the Westside.
The DNG House Price Gauge has been recording the movement in second hand house prices since its inception in 1999.
DNG believes their guide to be an excellent barometer of property price variations in the residential market in the greater Dublin area as it monitors the value of properties in all price categories and locations regardless of whether there are transactions occurring or not in those areas or price ranges.
It found that an increased demand for starter semi-detached houses, and solid performance of houses in the
?¬250,000 to
?¬350,000 price range all helped to increase second hand house prices in Dublin since the beginning of the year.
However, it has been the encouraging performance of properties in the swath of city from the M50 to the sea south of the Liffey that has given the best reasons for hopes of a recovery in the depressed property market.
“It has been by far the best performing area in the entire country,
? Brian Dempsey from DNG said last week.
“We are talking about Rathmines, Ranelagh, Rathgar, Shankill, all the Ds – D2, D4, D6, D8 – etc that are all doing well.
“If you put a house up for sale in any of these areas with a realistic price it will be gone within three to six weeks.
“That is a sea change in what has been happening in the rest of the country.
?
Southside homes, which experienced some of the worst of the property price drops from peak to trough, showed an increase of 4.2 per cent from January to March this year.
Northside prices increased by 3.3 per cent in the same period while houses in the westside of the city increased by 3.2 per cent.
Two other reports out last week appear to support the consensus that property prices in Dublin are starting to show real signs of recovery.
Property website Daft.ie found that asking prices in the first quarter of this year are up 0.5 per cent in the capital for the first time in six years while rival website Myhome.ie is reporting that Dublin prices have remained unchanged for the second quarter in a row.
However, Angela Keegan, Managing Director of MyHome.ie said that while improved affordability was welcome for consumers, access to mortgage finance while improving remains an issue.
Ronan Lyons, an economist with Daft.ie, said their latest figures also show that the gap between prices in Dublin and those elsewhere is growing and growing quite rapidly.