Douglas Newman Good chief executive Keith Lowe has put the recent increase in prices down to supply and demand.
Stock levels of three and four bed homes in the capital are at a low level and he believes this has had a knock-on effect on sales, with the CSO reporting yesterday that property prices were up 8% in Dublin in the year to July and 2.3% nationally.
“It’s about the lack of availability of housing stock,” he said.
“Firstly, so many people who are in negative equity are no in a position to sell their property; secondly, people who are on tracker mortgages can’t take them with them – if they were to do so there would be more liquidity in the market; and thirdly, there is no new house-building in the capital.”
Last weekend Sherry FitzGerald launched a new Belmont development in Stepaside, Dublin 18.
According to The Irish Times as many as 400 people attended the first day and by the time the estate agents had left that evening, 15 deposits had been taken for 19 properties, which ranged in price from €265,000 to €390,000.
Brian Dempsey of DNG, meanwhile, told The Irish Independent that some family homes in Dublin had shot up in value by around €100,000 in the last year.
“I haven’t seen anything like that since 2006,” he said.
