Daft Report: Urban House Price Inflation Halves to 3% by June 2026, Rural Areas Rise

A new Daft report reveals a two-speed Irish property market by June 2026, with urban house price inflation stabilising while rural areas see continued rapid increases. Dublin list-price inflation halved to 3% in the year to June 2026, and transaction prices in the capital show the first annual decline since 2023. Other cities are nearly flatlining at -0.2%.

Conversely, inflation remains strong outside cities: 4.8% in Leinster, 6.3% in Munster, and 8.8% in Connacht and Ulster. This urban-rural divide is linked to property availability. On June 1, there were just over 13,100 second-hand homes for sale nationwide, 6% more than a year ago but still half the pre-pandemic norm of over 26,000. Availability improved in urban markets, with Dublin nearing its pre-Covid average, while supply remains tightest in Munster (66% below 2015-2019 average) and Connacht-Ulster (down 64%).

Ronan Lyons, author of the Daft report and economics professor at Trinity College Dublin, stated that second-hand supply is «effectively stuck.» While homes changing hands rose over 3% in the year to March, this was driven entirely by new-build sales, up 17%. Lyons emphasized that new construction, though important, cannot rebalance the market alone; greater churn among the 1.4 million owner-occupied homes is needed. Nationally, listed prices are 44% above pre-Covid levels and 8% below the Celtic Tiger peak. The average price for a three-bed semi-detached home is €445,000.

City-specific changes in listed prices for three-bedroom semi-detached homes since June last year are: Dublin up 3% to €580,000; Cork City up 5.1% to €439,000; Limerick City up 1.9% to €379,000; Galway City up 4.4% to €626,000; and Waterford City up 6.1% to €308,000.