County Waterford is bucking the national trend for house asking prices according to a survey published in last weekend’s Sunday Times.
Meanwhile, city asking prices during the first quarter of the year rose marginally, despite experiencing declines in asking prices for one and three-bedroom properties.
The survey, based on research conducted by property website Daft.ie shows that asking prices – what a seller aims to achieve, it’s worth pointing out – rose by 2.1 per cent in County Waterford during the first quarter. Average city asking prices rose by 0.7 per cent during the same timeframe.
The average asking price for a home in the county during the opening quarter of the year was €327,106, with the average city price standing at €273,779.
While one-bed homes held their asking price from the end of last year in the county, city property prices dipped by six per cent. The other notable drop was in city three bedroom homes, which declined by three per cent.
At the top end of the market, five bed home asking prices rose by three per cent while the same sized property in the county saw its asking price rise by a single digit.
In reaction to the survey’s principal findings, property experts believe that many seeking to sell their homes are ‘cutting out the bravado’ by setting asking prices closer to what might ultimately be achieved.
Said Daft.ie economist Ronan Lyons: “The survey takes up from the end of 2007, when there was no doubt that vendors all over Ireland were not reducing their asking prices.
“But at the same time, there was widespread evidence that vendors were secretly accepting big price cuts behind the scenes. These cuts are now out in the open.”
Locally, it’s been interesting to note that some selling agents are now including prices for homes in their weekly newspaper advertising, a notable change in tack in this post-boom market.
“Taking a line from the 1969 Rolling Stones song, sellers are starting, and must continue, to realise that ‘you can’t always get what you want’ in terms of house prices,” according to Goodbody Chief Economist Dermot O’Leary.
