The Housing Minister has said increased housing supply can slow down surging house prices next year.

Three separate reports published today have highlighted increases in asking prices and sale prices of homes across Ireland.

The latest Daft house price report found that house prices have increased by 9% in the past year – with prices rising by 13% outside of urban areas.

It found that asking prices in Mayo and Leitrim are more than 20% than a year ago as buyers look to move out of cities after the COVID pandemic.

The MyHome.ie Quarter 3 report also found that asking prices had increased by 9% around the country – with prices up by 7.2% in Dublin and 10.1 Elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the REA (Real Estate Alliance) Average House Price Survey, which concentrates on the actual sale price of Irish property, found that the cost of a three-bed semi-detached house has increased 12% in the space of a year.

Supply

Speaking in Donabate this afternoon, the Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the number of houses on the market should increase next year.

“What we need to see is more supply frankly,” he said. “And the indicators for next year are good. They are good in the sense that we are seeing housing commencements increase quite substantially over the last couple of months.

“From talking to the sector as well, I believe the response to demand but also the response to the Government’s plan on Housing for All will lead to significant increases in commencements.”

Pandemic

He said the COVID pandemic has had a severe impact on housing supply this year.

“We just can’t get away from the fact we have had two very severe construction shutdowns in this country, where we lost about 8% of the human resources within the construction sector – the people who were actually building those homes,” he said.

“I believe the Housing for All plan and the fact the three Government parties have committed to that with real capital is actually going to help us catch up on two years where we have seen quite a substantial decrease on what we needed to deliver.”

Housing

He claimed the issue was not unique to Ireland – noting that countries across Europe were dealing with construction delays.

The Government earlier this month announced its Housing for All plan, which aims to build 33,000 new homes every year by the end of the decade.

It also promises to build an average of 9,500 social homes a year and to eradicate homelessness by 2030.

Minister O’Brien rejected claims the targets were “unrealistic”, insisting that they are challenging but achievable.

With reporting from Kacey O'Riordan