HOUSE PRICE INFLATION in cities may be stabilising, but rural areas are still seeing prices rise at speed.

A latest Daft.ie Sales Report shows a two-speed market emerging, as Dublin list-price inflation halved to 3% in the year to June 2026.

The list price is the same as the asking price, while the transaction price is what the home sells for in the end.

Transaction prices in the capital are showing the first annual decline since 2023. Other cities are nearly flatlining at -0.2%.

Meanwhile, inflation remains strong outside cities. It’s 4.8% in Leinster, 6.3% in Munster, and 8.8% in Connacht and Ulster.

The report states that the urban-rural divide is closely linked to the types of properties available.

On 1 June, there were just over 13,100 second-hand homes for sale nationwide, which is 6% than there were a year ago. However, it’s still only around half the pre-pandemic norm of over 26,000.

The improvement is concentrated in urban markets. In Dublin, for example, availability is now close to its pre-Covid average, while supply remains tightest in Munster outside the cities (66% below the 2015-2019 average) and in Connacht-Ulster (down 64%).

Second-hand market

Ronan Lyons, a professor in economics at Trinity College Dublin who authored the report, said the much-needed second-hand supply is “effectively stuck”. 

“In the year to March, the number of homes changing hands rose by just over 3%, but that growth was driven entirely by newly built homes, sales of which were up 17%,” he explained.

“New construction is hugely important, and the country needs to be building well above 60,000 homes a year, not under 40,000. But new-builds alone cannot rebalance the market.”

Instead, Lyons said, greater churn among the 1.4 million owner-occupied homes is needed. 

“Until second-hand supply responds, overall activity will remain well below what a healthy market requires,” he said.

Average prices

Nationally, listed prices are 44% above what they were before Covid, and 8% below the Celtic Tiger peak.

The average price of a three-bed semi-detached home is now €445,000.

Here’s a breakdown of how house prices have changed in cities since June of last year.

• Dublin: Listed prices are up 3%, and the average price of a three-bedroom semi-d is now €580,000
• Cork city: Listed prices are up 5.1%, and the average price of a three-bedroom semi-d is now €439,000
• Limerick city: Listed prices are up 1.9%, and the average price of a three-bedroom semi-d is now €379,000
• Galway city: Listed prices are up 4.4%, and the average price of a three-bedroom semi-d is now €626,000
• Waterford city: Listed prices are up 6.1%, and the average price of a three-bedroom semi-d is now €308,000

Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with Daft.ie publisher Distilled Media Group.