Family home prices in Leinster decrease 7%

The average price of a second-hand, three-bedroom semi detached house in Leinster declined by 7.3% in 2012. This compared with a 16.4% decline in 2011, according to the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) annual survey of its estate agent members.The SCSI said that the Mortgage Interest Relief (MIR) deadline stimulated demand in the final quarter of the year and a lack of supply of family-type homes, at the right price, was now emerging.Ed Carey, chairman of the Residential Property Professional Group of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, said the figures showed that Ireland in 2013 was no longer dealing with a property crisis, but the legacy of that crisis."How we deal with the legacy issues under our control will have a major bearing on the future of the property market in this country - 2012 was a year of transition and increasing levels of residential transactional and rental activity were experienced," Mr Carey said."However, the lack of uniformity in property values and the emergence of 'micro markets' suggests there will not be a single point at which the market hits the floor and recovery begins. Rather different types of property in different regions will experience variations in peak-to-trough prices and will recover at different times."The SCSI survey also suggested that there continued to be strong levels of activity in the residential rental market in 2012 and rents increased by an average of 2.5% in Leinster."Family homes are in demand for rental, tenancies are typically lasting longer and a new trend whereby people are renting out their homes and renting another property, either a larger home or closer to workplaces is emerging," Mr Carey pointed out.Agricultural land performed well again in 2012 following a strong performance in 2011. The SCSI survey suggests that the average price per acre with entitlements (up to 100 acres) was €9,768 in 2012 compared to €9,662 in 2011.The national average for agricultural land now stands at approximately €10,000 per acre with or without entitlements."The agricultural land market is one of the stronger performing sectors of the property market and 2012 followed on from the high levels of activity in 2011 relative to other sectors of the property market. This was primarily driven by demand from cash-buying farmers as a result of strong food export growth," Mr Carey concluded.The full report is at www.scsi.ie/SCSIAnnualPropertyReport2012