This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. For further information on the data sources, linking procedures and limitations of this report, see the Background and Methodology section.
Statistician’s comment was updated on 31 May 2024 to correct the rise in median age for purchasers with a mortgage from 33 to 43, to a median age of 33 to 37. There were no changes to the underlying graphs. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused
The proportion of dwellings purchased in Ireland with a mortgage was 63% in 2021, which was a fall from a series high of 65% in 2019.
South Dublin had the largest proportion of mortgaged transactions in 2021, at 77%. Across the series South Dublin tended to have the largest proportion of mortgaged transactions.
The median price paid for a dwelling purchased with a mortgage was over 40% higher than a dwelling purchased without a mortgage (€309,000 as opposed to €220,000).
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was the region with the highest median price for both mortgage and non-mortgage purchasers at €610,000 and €560,000, respectively. This region has the highest median price for both mortgage and non-mortgage purchasers each year since 2016.
The median loan amount was €220,000 in 2021 in comparison to €213,600 in 2020.
Buyers with a mortgage had a median age of 37 compared with 47 for those who purchased without a mortgage
The highest median age of purchasers with a mortgage was 40 in Kerry, while the lowest was in Kildare and Meath at 35.
The median income of a buyer with a mortgage was higher at €79,200 compared with €49,900 for a buyer without a mortgage.
This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output (See note in headline).
Prior to reading this publication users should note some of the limitations in the data sources. Across the entire period on average 5.5% of records could not be assigned a Protected Identifier Key (PIK). From 2010 to 2015 this average was 9.0% and from 2016 onwards the average drops to 0.3%. Therefore, care must be taken in interpreting the data, particularly over the period 2010-2015. The ability to not assign a PIK means certain records cannot be assigned information such as age, income, or indicate whether they had a mortgage at time of purchase. Therefore, statistics such as the median age can potentially be distorted because of records which are not missing at random. For example, older females were more likely to be missing a PIK. Statistical methods to correct this (i.e. imputation) were not successful and therefore no correction was made. While the CSO still believes publishing this data provides valuable insights into the type of individuals who are purchasing properties in Ireland, care should be taken when interpreting results, over time, across cohorts and at some lower geographical levels.
Moreover, this publication uses the Central Credit Register (CCR) to identify the cohorts who may have purchased a dwelling with a mortgage. Given some of the limitations involved in integrating this data there is a potential for an undercount of the mortgaged dwelling transactions and an overcount of non-mortgaged dwelling transactions. This may be truer for earlier periods, with later years providing more robust estimates. Therefore, the CSO recommends that care should be taken when examining counts and or proportions overtime, and at lower-level breakdowns.
For some of the above reasons, a breakdown of mortgage and non-mortgage cohorts at a Local Authority level is only available from 2016 onwards.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (04 April 2023) issued Characteristics of Residential Property Purchasers - Estimates of Mortgage and Non-Mortgage Transactions 2021.
Seán O’Connor, Statistician, said: "Today’s Frontier release is a further addition to the series of Characteristics of Residential Property Purchasers and provides estimates and insight into cohorts who purchase dwellings with and without a mortgage.
In summary, mortgage purchasers tend to account for a greater proportion of transactions in the residential property market. This cohort is younger, has higher income and purchase more expensive dwellings than their non-mortgage counterparts.
In 2021, the analysis shows that most (63%) residential dwellings were purchased with a mortgage. This compares with a figure of 57% in 2010, and a series low of 44% in 2013. The highest proportion of residential dwellings purchased with a mortgage was 65% in 2019.
Areas like South Dublin, Fingal, and Kildare had some of the highest proportions of transactions involving mortgages at 77% and 74% (jointly for Fingal and Kildare), respectively. In contrast more rural areas such as Donegal and Leitrim had a lower proportion with shares at 35% and 41%.
Prices and Mortgage Loan Amounts
In 2021, the median price of a residential dwelling was €280,000, with a large variation when analysed by type of buyer and region. The median price of a dwelling purchased with a mortgage was €309,000 compared with €220,000 for those purchased without a mortgage. This was an increase on the 2010 figures which were €247,000 and €191,000, respectively.
The highest median price for purchasers with a mortgage were in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (€610,000), Wicklow (€400,000) and Dublin City (€395,000). These areas also had some of the highest median prices for buyers without a mortgage at €560,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, €380,000 in Dublin City and €355,000 in Fingal.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was the Local Authority where purchasers had the highest median mortgage loan at €378,000, followed by South Dublin at €290,000.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was also the Local Authority with the lowest loan-to-value share at 62%. Laois in contrast had the highest share at 81% in 2021.
Age and Income
The median age of purchasers increased from 35 to 39 years between 2010 and 2021, across all transactions. For purchasers with a mortgage, the median age rose from 33 to 37 years between 2010 to 2021. The median age for purchasers without a mortgage increased from 43 to 47 years over the same period.
In 2021, the highest median age of purchasers with a mortgage was 40 in Kerry, while the lowest was in Kildare and Meath at 35. For purchasers without a mortgage, the highest median age was in Wexford, at 55, while the lowest was in Kildare and South Dublin, at 40.
Overall, the median income of purchasers was €71,300 in 2021. The median income for buyers with a mortgage was €79,200 while it was €49,900 for buyers without a mortgage.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median income for buyers with a mortgage which was €126,900 in 2021. This was followed by Dublin City at €93,300. Longford was the region with the lowest median income of a buyer with a mortgage, at €56,000. Longford also had the lowest median income of a buyer without a mortgage at €33,600, followed closely by Monaghan at €33,900.