Daft.ie Report reflects continued growth in housing market

7th March 2006, Daft.ie, Ireland's biggest property site, today released its Daft Quarterly Report for Quarter 4, 2005. The report provides an analysis of trends in the Irish property market and a comprehensive overview of house prices and rental performance across all major Irish cities.

This report introduces the Daft House Price Index which indicates that growth in house prices accelerated towards the end of 2005. Average house price growth rose from 1% in Q3 2005 to 5.5% in Q4 2005. Initial figures for January and February show that house price growth has slowed to 1.4%. The Daft House Price Index is the first index of its kind to be introduced into Ireland and is based on the asking price of a property for sale rather than the closing price. The benefit of this Index is that trends in the market are visible up to three months ahead of the other indices, due to the time it takes to close a sale and the time it takes for a mortgage to be approved.

The report indicates that properties in Dublin City are on average 60% more expensive than those in the counties surrounding Dublin, while properties in Limerick sold for approximately ?60,000 less than similar properties in Cork and Galway. The fastest selling properties are currently in West Dublin with an average time to sell of 41 days. Detached houses are selling for an average of €75,000 more than semi-detached, while terraced houses sell for €30,000 less than semi detached.

The final quarter of 2005 and start of 2006 has shown a continuation in the trend of increasing rents. Rents are now 5.1% higher than last year and at their highest point in fours years. However, while rents in the major cities and Dublin commuter belt are rising steadily, rents for properties outside these regions are falling albeit slowly. The areas with the fastest growing rents in 2005 were Smithfield at 16%, followed by Ranelagh at 9.3% and the areas around Blackrock at 9%. The most expensive property to let in 2005 was a 5 bed house on Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge commanding €15,000 per month. The report also shows that properties with dishwashers enjoy a rent of €50 more per month than similar properties without.

During 2005 the national average for time to let and vacancy periods fell to a record low of 14.4 and 8.3 days respectively. The fastest place to let is currently Dublin City Centre with a time to let of 9.8 days, while the slowest places are Limerick and Galway at 20.4 and 22.3 respectively.

The report indicates that three bed properties in Dublin City Centre currently command the highest yields for potential investors while South County Dublin as the area with the most expensive property affords the lowest yields.

Also included in the report is a first time buyer affordability calculator outlining typical monthly mortgage costs and the cost of renting versus buying. On average it is 2.5 times more expensive per month to buy than to rent. At the top end of the scale are 3 bed properties in Dublin commuter towns where it is approximately 3.2 times more expensive.

Commenting on the launch of the report Brian Fallon, Director, Daft.ie said "The Daft Report is now one year old. Over the last 12 months it has become the definitive barometer of the Irish rental market and has appeared in publications by the Irish Central Bank and other leading financial institutions. With the addition of the Daft House Price Index, the Daft Report is now an essential tool for anyone with an interest or a stakehold in the Irish property market."

Included in the report is a guest commentary from Austin Hughes, Chief Economist IIB Bank "The Daft Report suggests activity levels in both the purchase and rental sectors remain buoyant as demand and supply continue to grow at far stronger rates than most commentators expected. This report introduces the Daft House Price index, which suggests that property price inflation is now running at a rate in the mid-teens, which suggests sentiment among sellers is continuing to strengthen."

He added "The tentative signs of recovery in rents indicated in the Daft Rent Index a year ago continued in 2005 and while record levels of house building are dampening the pace of rent increase, the fact that rents are continuing to rise suggests just how strong demand is. Critically, a sharp rise in purchase demand and a substantial increase in rental supply is restraining the increase in rents. Maturing SSIA's may cause this trend to persist through the next couple of years"

Daft.ie is Ireland's biggest property website with over one million visits per month and in excess of 30,000 properties on the site at any one time. Since its inception in 1997, Daft.ie has become synonymous with renting and buying property in Ireland. Each year over 75,000 rental properties over 60,000 residential sales are advertised on Daft. These properties are sourced from over 1000 estate agents and 40,000 registered landlords around the country.

A full copy of the report is available online at www.daft.ie/report

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Notes to the Editor
Daft.ie, Ireland's biggest property site has been providing low-cost online advertising to the Irish property market since 1997 with a primary focus on first-time-buyer properties, investment properties both home & abroad and residential property to let.

Established by two brothers Brian and Eamonn Fallon, Daft.ie has become the country's biggest property portal with over 30,000 properties available for sale or let at any one time. The site currently delivers 25 million pages of properties a month to over 1.2 million visitors. Eamonn and Brian were also finalists in the 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.