Longford bottoms out in Daft.ie House Price Report

Longford has fallen behind Leitrim to take the bottom spot in the Daft.ie House Price Report. The latest stats from the property website show that housing prices across the country rose during 2023 by an average of 3.4%, the smallest increase since 2019.

The latest Daft.ie House Price Report indicated the average price offered for sale on the property website for Q4 in Longford was €189,215. This is now below the average property price in Leitrim of €191,133.
In Longford, prices in the final three months of 2023 were 2% higher than a year previously, compared to a rise of 9% seen a year ago. By contrast Leitrim experienced a 10.4% increase.

The Daft.ie data suggests the average price of houses on the market in Longford is 25% below its Celtic Tiger peak.
Longford town based property agent, Padraic Davis, was not surprised by the shift: “Donegal, Longford, Leitrim and Roscommon have always been on a par. What may have pushed Leitrim ahead of us is the prices of property in the Carrick on Shannon area. They have skyrocketed. That's pushing the average up.”

The typical listed price nationwide in the final three months of the year was €320,046, 1.5% lower than in the third quarter and roughly 14% below the Celtic Tiger peak.
Ballymahon based property agent, Jackie White, says the figures may not reflect the reality for house buyers: “Listed prices can be different to the actual property prices,” she said.

Jackie says there has been significant activity on the local property front: “We have found in the last 12 months that we are exceeding our asking prices. I thought Leitrim was a little bit cheaper than us.”
Jackie says there are few three bedroom semi detached houses in her area for the €189,215 figure: “We have a micro market in Ballymahon and Kenagh. It's a little bit different to the rest of the county.
“Our proximity to Athlone and Mullingar means people are coming to us for better value for money. Buyers who can't afford the property prices in Mullingar or Athlone are coming to us, but to be honest we are catching up.”

The Ballymahon property professional says there are two sides to Longford being bottom of the table: “I would take it as a little bit of a negative, but there is some optimism in it. If a person has flexible employment options they will certainly get value for money in Longford. A report like this can have a positive effect.”

Influencing the market is the cost of self built homes: “Build costs are astronomical. That's having an impact. People are realising they have to build smaller. We are in a strange space where the build cost is in excess of the market value. The EU wants us to live in smaller places with better energy ratings, there is a big drive towards that,” she told the Leader.
Another factor is the number of apartments available: “There is a big gap in the market. For example someone approaching retirement who no longer need a five bedroom detached house with a garage. There's nowhere for those people to downsize to. The gap in the market is for the apartment or a two bed bungalow,” Jackie said.

Auctioneer Padraic Davis believes there's a lot of variance in the market: “The three bed semi detached house, which is attractive for first and second time buyers and investors, range from around €130,000 to about €250,000, depending on the area they are in. For detached and dormers there is a significant variation. It's very difficult to get a trend.”
Being bottom of the pile can have advantages: “The one thing that will attract people to areas like Longford and Leitrim is value. We can't compete as a commuter location for Dublin, though there are people across the county who do commute to the capital.

“To make the move from East to West is easy, but to do it in the opposite direction is more difficult. For a Longford person to move to Kildare requires a substantial amount of cash or borrowing to cover the shortfall,” Padraic explained.
Factors stimulating the local property market are also important: “Working from home has had one of the biggest impacts on the market in the 22 years I have been in this business. It was bigger than the structure of interest rates, only the crash of 2007 was as impactful. It will continue to drive the demand for detached family homes down here.”

The number of homes available to buy nationwide on December 1st stood at just over 11,100. This is down 27% year-on-year and is the lowest since March 2022. It is also less than half the 2019 average of 24,200.
Government initiatives to increase housing stock are playing a part: “The derelict house grants have created a market for those houses. It's very much in its infancy. There are hoops to be jumped through, but it has upped the demand in a big way for those types of properties,” Padraic concluded.

The Daft.ie Report is based on an analysis of the full database of properties posted for advertisement on Daft.ie up to late December 2023. Average price figures are calculated from econometric regressions using standard methods.