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Housing affordability slightly improved for FTBs

Written by Robert McHugh, on 7th Jun 2019. Posted in Ireland

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Affordability slightly improved for First Time Buyers (FTBs) in the housing market in the first quarter. This is according to the latest Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) Housing Market Monitor.

The report shows a 32% jump in first quarter commencements (completions +23%), 3.9% yoy rise in house prices in March (number of dwellings for sale +4.4% but -2.4% for rent), 9% growth in mortgage drawdowns and 27% of transactions were cash sales (from 31% a year ago). 

The data also highlights the declining share of individual investors in the market but a shift to institutional investors, noting that c.20% of all market purchases in the first quarter were non-households. 

The BPFI notes that the average deposit for a first-time buyer was €37k, unchanged over the past 4 quarters. However, the median mover-purchaser deposit was up 5% to €95k. The fastest growth in median deposits was in the main urban areas in the south and west of the country (+13%) and the Dublin Commuter region +10%).

The report shows that median incomes were up 4% for first time buyers at €71k though flat (+0.3%) for mover purchasers at €101k. The BPFI produces its own price to income ratios (complements the Central Bank data) and shows the median price to income ratio for FTBs fell for the first time since the first quarter of 2014, though the ratio for mover-purchasers at 3.70x is up from 3.45x a year ago.

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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