3 January 2026
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
In Cork City, the average price of a three-bedroom semi-detached house in the final quarter of 2025 was €409,000 (that’s 9 times an average salary), up 7.4% on a year ago. In Cork county, the average price of a four-bedroom detached house in the final quarter of 2025 was €492,000, up 5.6% on a year ago.
The average list price nationally rose by an average of 5.5% during 2025, according to the latest Daft.ie House Price Report released today by Ireland’s largest property website, Daft.ie. Nationally, the average price of a three-bed semi-detached home in the final quarter of the year was just over €423,000. Listed prices are now, on average, 41% above their pre-covid levels and just 10% below their Celtic Tiger peak.
A similar picture emerges from analysis of transactions registered in the Property Price Register and matched to the Daft.ie database, with early indications that transaction prices rose 7.4% during 2025. The typical gap between the initial listed price and the ultimate transaction price has grown sharply since 2003 and, in late 2025, was 6.6% nationally.
Important differences remain across regions, with the lowest inflation again seen in Dublin, where prices were up 3.1% year-on-year. In Connacht-Ulster, on the other hand, prices rose by 11.6% during 2025.
As has consistently been the case for over a decade, the increases in prices around the country stem from a lack of supply. On December 1st, there were just 11,551 second-hand homes for sale nationwide. While this is up 7% on the same date a year previously, availability is less than half the 2015-2019 average of 26,000. Shortages in availability are much more acute outside Dublin (63% below the late 2010s) than in the capital (16% below).
Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin, said:
“Across both list and transaction prices, it is clear that demand continues to significantly outpace supply in the sales market. An optimist will point to the slight slowdown in inflation, with the 5.5% increase in list prices below the 6.8% seen in 2024 – and to the modest increase in availability of second-hand homes.
However, this marks the twelfth year in a row of increasing prices. And, since the pandemic, the availability of homes to buy has become stuck at a much lower level than before – putting greater pressure on buyers. The solution remains unchanged. A country that is building between 30,000 and 35,000 homes needs to double that total – across owner-occupied, social and rental segments – so that the housing reflects society, rather than society having to fit the housing stock.”
Average price of three-bedroom semi-detached house (rounded to nearest thousand), and overall year-on-year change across the market, 2025 Q4
- Dublin: €611,000 – list prices on average 3.1% higher than a year ago
- Other Cities: €390,000 – list prices on average 4.5% higher than a year ago
- Leinster (excluding Dublin): €363,000 – list prices on average 7.3% higher than a year ago
- Munster (excluding cities): €300,000 – list prices on average 5.7% higher than a year ago
- Connacht-Ulster (excluding Galway): €246,000 – list prices on average 11.6% higher than a year ago
File photo of Ronan Lyons
The full report is available from here and includes commentary by Ronan Lyons, Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft.ie Report.