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.
The number of dwellings purchased rose from 19,300 in 2010 to 46,420 by 2021.
The proportion of properties which were purchased jointly increased from 47.0% in 2010 to 60.3% in 2021. However, this was a 1.9 percentage point decrease from 2019.
Kildare had the largest share of joint transactions in 2021, with 71.1% (1,970) of purchases made by a joint purchaser.
In 2021, the median price of a residential dwelling was €280,000, while joint purchasers with children paid the highest median price at €322,000.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was the region with the highest median price for both sole and joint purchasers at €480,000 and €640,000.
In 2021, at a State level the median age of purchasers stood at 39 years, while it was 41 years for a sole purchaser and 38 years for a joint purchaser.
The median income of purchasers was at €71,300 in 2021.
Across all transactions, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median income at €115,800, while it Longford had the lowest at €46,300.
This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release.
CSO Frontier Series may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. Publishing outputs under the Frontier Series allows the CSO to provide useful new information to users and get informed feedback on these new methods and outputs whilst at the same time make sure that the limitations are well explained and understood.
In using the increasingly varied sources of data available, the CSO must ensure that we continue to protect and secure data. Our aim is to ensure that citizens can live in an informed society while at the same time ensuring adherence to all relevant data protection legislation.
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, sex, income or indicate whether they had a child at time of purchase. Therefore, statistics such as the median age can potentially be distorted because of records which are not randomly missing. 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, given some of the limitations, a breakdown of buyer type is only available from 2016 onwards. Futhermore, income analysis is only available from 2012 onwards.
For further information on the data sources, linking procedures and limitations of this report, see the Background and Methodology section.
This report has been complied utilising administrative data and is an example of the policy relevant research projects the CSO are developing as part of its leadership role of the Irish Statistical System. The goal in the CSO is to maximise the variety and volume of high quality information provided to citizens, businesses and the Government which forms the foundation for evidence-based decision-making and the basis for accountability. The CSO is in a unique position to access and link administrative data held by Government Departments and Agencies for statistical use only by using the Statistics Act 1993, in compliance with all relevant data protection legislation.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
Commenting, Seán O’Connor, Statistician, said: "Today’s Frontier publication provides further information on the characteristics of individuals purchasing residential property in Ireland from 2010 to 2021, across the themes of prices, ages, income, and numbers of dwellings purchased. Additional insights are also provided across themes of sex and on the region the purchaser provided at the time of purchase and where the property purchased is located.
While Characteristics of Residential Property Purchasers 2010-2019 noted that the proportion of properties purchased jointly stood at 62.2% in 2019, the proportion has fallen slightly to 61.4% in 2020 and 60.3% in 2021.
Of the 46,420 dwellings purchased in 2021, Dublin City was the local authority with the largest number of transactions at 5,080, while Monaghan had the fewest with 300. Kildare had the largest share in 2021 of joint transactions, with 71.1% (1,970) of purchases by a joint purchaser. The joint share was smallest in Longford at 47.6% (200 transactions).
Prices
In 2021, the median price of a residential dwelling was €280,000, with a large variation by type of buyer and region. The median price for a joint purchaser with children stood at €322,000 which compares with €224,000 for a sole purchaser without children. The highest median prices for sole purchasers were in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (€480,000), Dublin City (€350,000) and Fingal (€320,000). These areas also had some of the highest median prices for joint purchasers at €640,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, €435,000 in Wicklow, and €427,000 in Dublin City.
Longford had the lowest median price for sole purchasers at €120,000 in 2021 and also for joint purchasers at €154,000.
Age and Income
The median age of purchasers rose from 35 to 39 years between 2010 and 2021, across all transactions. For sole purchasers, the median age rose from 34 to 41 years from 2010 to 2021, while the median for joint purchasers increased from 35 to 38 years, from 2010 to 2021.
The highest median age for sole purchasers was 49 in Wexford in 2021, while the lowest was 38 in Dublin City. For joint purchasers, the highest median age was 47 in Kerry with the joint lowest being in Kildare, South Dublin and Meath at 36.
The median income of purchasers stood at €71,300 in 2021, at a State level. The median income for a sole purchaser in 2021 was €46,000 while it stood at €87,700 for a joint purchaser.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest gross income for joint purchasers of €137,900 in 2021, followed by Dublin City (€108,200) and Fingal (€99,200). The lowest values for gross income for joint purchasers were in Longford (€60,300), Cavan (€63,400) and Monaghan (€63,600).
For sole purchasers, the highest gross incomes were in Dublin City (€64,100), Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (€62,500) and South Dublin (€57,500) while the lowest were in Longford (€32,000) and Monaghan (€33,500). The joint income was €75,400 higher than the sole income in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown in 2021, the largest difference in Ireland. Offaly had the smallest difference of €23,600.
Location of Purchasers
Across all regions the majority of dwelling purchasers are by people providing an address in that location.
From 2010 to 2021, nearly nine in ten property buying individuals in Cork purchased a dwelling in Cork. This was the highest proportion in Ireland, followed closely by Dublin.
From 2010 to 2021 nearly one in four (24.1%) people who bought a property in Donegal gave an address outside Ireland, the largest share in the State. Most of these addresses were in Northern Ireland."