The stock of houses available for sale is now at the lowest level on record, according to the latest analysis by Sherry FitzGerald Research. There were only 14,400 second - hand properties listed for sale nationwide in January 2022. This represents a 6.7% fall over the past twelve months, with over 1,000 fewer properties available for sale. Since January 2020, immediately prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the stock of second-hand properties for sale has fallen by nearly 30%.
Following this further deterioration in in stock, the total volume of properties advertised for sale in January 2022 represented just 0.7% of the overall total private housing stock.
According to Marian Finnegan, Managing Director, Sherry FitzGerald; “The imbalance between supply and demand remains the foremost obstacle facing the housing market. This is crystalised by the fact that in January, the lowest number of second-hand properties were advertised for sale nationwide since we began recording in 2010. With just 0.7% of stock available for sale nationwide and only 0.6% in the Dublin market, upward pressure on prices is likely to persist in the months ahead.”
In Dublin, supply is down by 1% year-on-year, with approximately 3,150 properties available for sale. Supply across the four local authorities varied, with Dublin City, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown & South County Dublin recording increases in supply, while Fingal saw stock advertised for sale deplete by over 12%. Overall, levels in Dublin remain severely constrained, with just 0.6% of total stock available.
Stock is particularly tight at lower price categories. Indeed, the sub €200,000 price category has seen the greatest contraction in supply with just 4,500 such properties available across Ireland. This represents a fall of over 40% in just two years.
Dublin saw the largest deterioration in the sub €200,000 market. This price category has seen supply levels fall by 33.5% year-on-year, with just 109 properties of this type available in the capital as of January 2022. There has also been a decline in availability of properties for sale in the €500,000 to €750,000 price category in Dublin, almost 9%.
The regional cities have also seen variation in supply levels. Cork city saw a reduction in stock of 12.3%, while in Limerick & Galway city, increases of 9.6% and 3.7% respectively were recorded.
Sligo saw the largest decrease in supply of any county, down 24.5%, closely followed by Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow with decreases of just over 23% each.
All four provinces saw supply diminish over the year, with stock falling by 9.6% in Connacht and 6.7%, 6.2% and 3.7% in Munster, Leinster and Ulster respectively.
