The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly tested the property market, but in terms of housing demand it remains strong especially in the Kildare area. Indications last year suggested property prices would hold, and they have against a challenging backdrop. According to the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), Irish residential property prices, which remained resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic last year, are set to rise by an average of 4% in 2021.
Remote Working Property Impact
While many commuter counties have benefited from their close proximity to Dublin, now as workers are able to work from home and with an appetite there for workers to remain working at home this has opened up the property market further afield. Regional locations have experienced an increased interest in property as professionals opt to remain working from home and take advantage of the reduced property prices in these previously not as in demand areas – if they have the required amenities and strong broadband. Regardless of the pandemic, buyers are still determined to secure a new home, and while many ‘would be buyers’ were hit by the pandemic there are a lot of buyers who have not been impacted by the restrictions of Covid-19, with it having a positive impact on their ability to save over the last 12 months. According to Ibec, Irish household savings were ‘turbocharged’ by Covid-19 during the first seven months of last year, with savings of €10 billion reported which has in some cases, enabled prospective buyers (who work in areas not affected by the pandemic), to increase their savings faster.
What did change, certainly in the early days of the pandemic is vendor confidence in the property market, when the pandemic first hit many would have decided to put their plans to sell a home on hold as there was such a huge amount of uncertainty, but now they intend to sell in 2021 regardless of the current landscape. This is good news for buyers as while the housing market might have been a smaller pool last year, we can expect there to be more supply in 2021 and a healthier property market.
Kildare Property Market
In terms of Kildare, the demand, as always, remains strong. It would be fair to say, there were less properties coming onto the market in 2020, but as this changes this year, many vendors will enjoy increased interest (and subsequent bidding), as prospective buyers rush to snap up properties.
As it stands, the *average price of a 3-bed semi-detached house in Kildare is €290,000, up approximately 3% on the December 2019 average of €282,000 with Kildare still having some of the highest priced houses in the Leinster area apart from Dublin. Locally, in Naas, demand drove a €5,000 increase in the average price in Q4 of 2020 to €290,000. *According to iPPi, there are only 55 residential properties for sale in the Naas area at the moment with only 3 rental properties available to let in Naas.
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*Findings from iPPi Report on 04/03/2021
