Ireland’s Fastest Rising Towns: Second-Hand Prices 2021 vs 2025 (336 Towns Ranked)

Across all 336 towns, the median second-hand price change was +36.0% over four years. The mean was slightly higher at 36.7%, meaning the distribution is fairly symmetrical — there isn't a handful of outliers skewing things.

But that national average hides an enormous gap. The fastest towns grew six times faster than the slowest. And seven towns actually fell in value — all of them already expensive in 2021.

The top 20 reads like a road trip through rural and semi-rural Ireland. None of the big cities make the list. What these towns share: they were genuinely affordable in 2021 (12 of the top 20 had a SH median under €200,000) and they had enough market activity to be meaningful.

Boyle (Co. Roscommon) went from €90,000 to €180,000. That's still affordable by national standards — which is partly why demand surged. Adare (Co. Limerick) is the outlier: it was already €282,500 and still nearly doubled to €550,000, driven by its reputation as one of Ireland's prettiest villages.

This isn't a coincidence. Towns that were under €150,000 in 2021 grew 48.5% on average. Towns over €600,000 grew just 16.7%. The cheaper the starting price, the bigger the percentage jump.

But here's the flip side: in absolute euro terms, expensive towns gained more money. The median town over €600,000 gained €119,500 in value. The median town under €150,000 gained €60,750 — despite rising nearly three times faster in percentage terms. The percentage gap is closing but the euro gap is widening.

When you average the town-level data by county, Carlow leads at +73.3% (driven by Tullow and Bagenalstown). Dublin sits last at +25.6% — but that hides huge internal variation. Cherrywood (+89%) and Hansfield (+75%) are inside Dublin's boundaries and outperformed most rural counties.

The split is stark: Dublin +25.6% vs rest of Ireland +40.7%. Regional Ireland is closing the gap, but from a much lower base.

In 2021, these 18 towns had a second-hand median under €150,000. By 2025, every single one had crossed €200,000. For first-time buyers in these areas, the window of genuine affordability has closed. A house that cost €104,500 in Ballyconnell now costs €205,000 — meaning you need roughly €20,000 more for a deposit and a mortgage that's €400 a month higher.

Percentage growth favours cheap towns. But if you're asking “who got richest?”, the answer is different. Homeowners in Merrion gained €392,500 in equity — nearly four times the gain in Boyle, despite Boyle's 100% growth rate. Ranelagh homeowners gained €336,750, Cherrywood €291,196.

The uncomfortable truth: expensive areas grew slower in percentage terms but faster in euro terms. The wealth gap between Dublin homeowners and rural homeowners has widened, not narrowed.

Not everywhere went up. Seven towns saw their second-hand median drop between 2021 and 2025. Every single one was already expensive — the cheapest starting point was Stepaside at €440,000.

Rathmines fell 11.9% (€832,500 to €733,333), Donnybrook 8.3%, Stepaside 8.0%, Glenageary 6.5%. These are all established premium markets. The likely explanation: 2021 was a peak for these areas as remote workers briefly drove demand for central, high-end stock. As the market normalised, buyers shifted to value areas instead.

Dalkey barely moved — down 2% from its near-million-euro starting point. At that price level, it takes very few unusual sales to shift the median.