Ireland Property Market Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025: 12,000+ Sales Reveal a Shifting Market
Ireland's affordable property tier is shrinking fast. In Q1 2026, 574 fewer homes sold under €300K than in the same quarter a year ago — not because fewer people were buying, but because those homes now cost more.
We analysed 12,196 property transactions registered in January, February, and March 2026 and compared them to the same period in 2025. The national median rose 6.6% to €370,044 — but the real story is in how the shape of the market changed. The middle is swelling, the affordable end is shrinking, and the West of Ireland is outpacing Dublin at a rate not seen in recent years.
National Median
€370K
up from €347K
Price Change
+6.6%
Q1 2025 → Q1 2026
Total Sales
12,196
+0.7% vs Q1 2025
New Build Volume
+24.6%
2,067 → 2,577 sales
The National Picture
Volume held almost flat while prices rose steadily across every month in the quarter. The market is moving — it's just moving up, not out.
| Month | Q1 2025 Sales | Q1 2026 Sales | Q1 2025 Median | Q1 2026 Median | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3,528 | 3,555 | €350,000 | €375,000 | +7.1% |
| February | 4,089 | 4,062 | €342,000 | €368,000 | +7.6% |
| March | 4,491 | 4,579 | €348,018 | €370,000 | +6.3% |
Price growth was remarkably consistent across all three months — no single month drove the gain. Every month came in between +6.3% and +7.6%, suggesting a structural shift rather than a short-term spike.
The Price Band Shift
The headline median only tells part of the story. The real change is in which price bands are growing and which are shrinking. The affordable end of the market is contracting while the €350K–€500K band is absorbing an outsized share of sales.
Share of full-market sales by price band, Q1 2025 vs Q1 2026
574 fewer sales in this segment year-on-year. Share fell from 36.9% to 31.2% of all transactions — a drop of 5.7 percentage points in a single year.
The sub-€200K market shrank the most in absolute terms: from 1,685 to 1,444 sales (−241).
700 more sales in this band year-on-year. Share jumped from 27.0% to 32.4% — the single biggest shift in the entire distribution.
The €400K–€500K slice alone added 426 sales, growing its share from 16.0% to 19.4%.
| Price Band | Q1 2025 Sales | Q1 2026 Sales | Q1 2025 Share | Q1 2026 Share | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <€200K | 1,685 | 1,444 | 14.7% | 12.4% | -2.4pp |
| €200–300K | 2,534 | 2,201 | 22.2% | 18.9% | -3.3pp |
| €300–350K | 1,566 | 1,516 | 13.7% | 13.0% | -0.7pp |
| €350–400K | 1,249 | 1,523 | 10.9% | 13.0% | +2.1pp |
| €400–500K | 1,833 | 2,259 | 16.0% | 19.4% | +3.3pp |
| €500–750K | 1,676 | 1,742 | 14.7% | 14.9% | +0.3pp |
| >€750K | 884 | 988 | 7.7% | 8.5% | +0.7pp |
County Divergence: The West is Running Hot
The 6.6% national average masks a dramatic geographic split. Counties in the west and northwest are recording growth rates three to four times higher than Dublin, which rose just 2.1% — barely above inflation.
Median price change by county, Q1 2025 → Q1 2026 (full-market sales, min 30 sales each period)
Longford (+22.6%) and Leitrim (+22.2%) lead the table, though from low bases — medians of €190K and €220K respectively. The more significant finding is how broad the western surge is: Donegal (+21.4%), Mayo (+20%), Sligo (+12.8%), and Roscommon (+12.6%) all recorded growth more than double the national average.
Galway stands out on volume as much as price: 565 full-market sales in Q1 2026 vs 447 a year earlier — a +26.4% volume surge, the largest of any high-transaction county in the country. Prices rose 12.6% to a median of €366K, confirming Galway is absorbing demand that can no longer afford Dublin or Wicklow.
Meath (+16.7%) is the standout commuter-belt story, with its median jumping from €340K to €396K as buyers continue to push further from Dublin in search of value. Volume also rose +14.3% — one of the largest volume gains among high-transaction counties.
At the other end, Dublin (+2.1%) is effectively treading water in real terms, and Limerick (−11.2%) recorded the only significant fall — explored in more detail below.
| County | Q1 2025 Median | Q1 2026 Median | Price Chg | Vol Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longford | €155,000 | €190,000 | +22.6% | -24.3% |
| Leitrim | €180,000 | €220,000 | +22.2% | +20.7% |
| Donegal | €185,000 | €224,669 | +21.4% | +11.8% |
| Mayo | €200,000 | €240,000 | +20% | -10.5% |
| Meath | €340,000 | €396,674 | +16.7% | +14.3% |
| Laois | €283,720 | €330,396 | +16.5% | +9.5% |
| Waterford | €267,848 | €303,250 | +13.2% | +0.7% |
| Sligo | €235,000 | €265,000 | +12.8% | +4.8% |
| Galway | €325,000 | €366,000 | +12.6% | +26.4% |
| Roscommon | €191,000 | €215,000 | +12.6% | +12.5% |
| Wicklow | €423,954 | €475,000 | +12% | -11.9% |
| Cavan | €234,000 | €260,000 | +11.1% | +18.8% |
| Offaly | €265,000 | €286,344 | +8.1% | +7.8% |
| Cork | €339,206 | €365,000 | +7.6% | +2.9% |
| Westmeath | €290,000 | €312,000 | +7.6% | +11.3% |
| Tipperary | €245,000 | €262,788 | +7.3% | +11.6% |
| Carlow | €262,500 | €281,469 | +7.2% | -8% |
| Louth | €321,586 | €343,612 | +6.8% | -7.8% |
| Wexford | €285,000 | €303,965 | +6.7% | +5.2% |
| Kerry | €275,000 | €290,000 | +5.5% | -0.8% |
| Kildare | €400,891 | €412,500 | +2.9% | +7.3% |
| Dublin | €470,000 | €480,000 | +2.1% | -3.1% |
| Kilkenny | €303,964 | €310,000 | +2% | +2.6% |
| Clare | €286,344 | €290,000 | +1.3% | +17.1% |
| Monaghan | €226,000 | €220,000 | -2.7% | +3.6% |
| Limerick | €320,000 | €284,000 | -11.2% | -0.2% |
New Build Volume Surges 25%
One of the most significant findings in the Q1 2026 data is the jump in new build registrations — up 24.6% year-on-year. This is the clearest supply signal yet in the PPR data.
New builds went from 2,067 sales in Q1 2025 to 2,577 in Q1 2026, increasing their share of all transactions from 18.1% to 22.1%. Their median rose from €374K to €396K (+5.9%) — more modest than the second-hand market's +6.0%, suggesting new build pricing is slightly more anchored.
Second-hand volume fell slightly (−264 sales) as buyers increasingly turned to new stock. The PPR registers new builds when they are sold, not when they are completed, so this surge partly reflects strong completions from late 2025 finally clearing.
Dublin by Postcode: D04 Leads, D18 Falls
Dublin's 2.1% average hides a wide range of performance across its postcodes. The Ballsbridge area (D04) surged 18.6%, while Sandyford/Rathfarnham (D18) dropped 8.2%. The city is not one market.
Median price change by Dublin postcode district (min 20 sales each period)
D04 (Ballsbridge/Sandymount) jumped from €610K to €723K — a €113K increase. D20 (Palmerstown, +18.6%) and D11 (Glasnevin/Finglas, +13.4%) are the strongest performers with solid sample sizes. D02 shows +32.5% but recorded only 29 sales in Q1 2026, making that figure unreliable — treat it as indicative rather than definitive.
Three postcodes — D13, D09, and D15— recorded zero change, while D18(Sandyford/Rathfarnham) fell 8.2% from €610K to €560K. D18 had unusually high volume in Q1 2026 (184 sales vs 161 in Q1 2025), suggesting a mix-shift toward lower-priced units within the district rather than outright price deflation.
The affordable-in-Dublin threshold also shifted: just 28.2% of Dublin sales in Q1 2026 were under €400K, down from 32.0% a year earlier — 175 fewer affordable transactions in the capital in a single quarter.
| District | Q1 2025 Median | Q1 2026 Median | Sales 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D02 | €415,000 | €550,000 | 75 | +32.5% |
| D04 | €610,000 | €723,436 | 155 | +18.6% |
| D20 | €417,500 | €495,000 | 28 | +18.6% |
| D11 | €340,000 | €385,650 | 118 | +13.4% |
| D03 | €508,000 | €574,000 | 121 | +13% |
| D24 | €360,500 | €405,000 | 174 | +12.3% |
| D6W | €675,500 | €735,000 | 60 | +8.8% |
| D17 | €313,500 | €339,000 | 26 | +8.1% |
| D01 | €333,500 | €360,000 | 70 | +7.9% |
| D05 | €482,250 | €520,000 | 104 | +7.8% |
| D08 | €377,500 | €407,000 | 133 | +7.8% |
| D07 | €455,000 | €480,000 | 127 | +5.5% |
| D16 | €629,000 | €658,000 | 126 | +4.6% |
| D14 | €742,000 | €775,000 | 112 | +4.4% |
| D06 | €700,000 | €725,000 | 101 | +3.6% |
| D10 | €315,000 | €325,000 | 41 | +3.2% |
| D12 | €450,000 | €462,500 | 134 | +2.8% |
| D22 | €351,000 | €360,000 | 93 | +2.6% |
| D13 | €515,000 | €515,000 | 152 | 0% |
| D09 | €490,000 | €490,000 | 121 | 0% |
| D15 | €440,000 | €440,000 | 261 | 0% |
| D18 | €610,000 | €560,000 | 161 | -8.2% |
The Limerick Anomaly
Limerick is the only major county to record a significant price fall: −11.2%, with its median dropping from €320K to €284K.
The driver appears to be a sharp fall in new build registrations within Limerick city. New build sales in the county dropped from 85 in Q1 2025 to just 45 in Q1 2026 (−47%). New builds in Limerick had been concentrated in premium schemes, so their absence pulled the overall median down. Second-hand prices also softened, from €300K to €272.5K, suggesting some genuine cooling rather than a purely compositional effect.
The volume was almost identical (422 vs 421 sales) so this isn't a thin-data anomaly. Limerick warrants watching through Q2 2026 to confirm whether this is a correction or a blip.
What This Means
Three things are happening simultaneously in the Irish property market in 2026:
- The affordable tier is shrinking. Nearly 600 sales that would have been sub-€300K a year ago are now showing up above that threshold. For first-time buyers using Help to Buy (capped at €500K), this matters most in the €350K–€500K band, which is now the fastest-growing segment.
- Supply is arriving, but prices aren't falling. New build volume jumped 25% — that's a real supply signal — yet prices rose 6.6% anyway. Demand is clearly absorbing the new stock.
- The geographic story has inverted. For years, Dublin led national price growth. In Q1 2026, it's near the bottom at +2.1%. Longford grew at +22.6% — more than ten times the Dublin rate. Galway, the West's largest city, added 118 extra sales in a single quarter. Remote work adoption, lifestyle migration, and low starting prices are all compounding in the same direction.
The Q2 2026 data (covering April–June) will be the key test: whether the new build surge continues, whether the west holds its gains, and whether the affordable tier shrinks further or stabilises.
Methodology: Data sourced from Ireland's Property Price Register. Q1 2025 = January–March 2025 (11,427 full-market sales); Q1 2026 = January–March 2026 (11,673 full-market sales). Analysis excludes non-full-market-price transactions and properties below €30K or above €5M. County medians require a minimum of 30 sales in each period. Dublin postcode analysis requires 20 sales in each period. New build classification based on PPR property description field.
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