The latest GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report has revealed a number of significant findings in the County Waterford market.
The report outlined that Waterford City had the lowest average house prices in the 26 counties of Ireland, at an average price of €200,524 - although the average house prices in the area still rose by 8.8% in 2021.
The county also has the third highest proportion of terraced property in Waterford at 30.5%, with 6.8% of the total residential stock now apartments.
Waterford saw 561 new addresses registered - the eighth highest figure in Ireland, increasing existing property stock by 1%.
Construction activity has risen significantly in the Deise - as it is up 70.2% on 2020 - making up 3.1% of the state total.
There was also 619 residential commencements while Waterford attained the third lowest vacancy rate in the country.
The vacancy rate in the county is currently 2.8% compared to 4.4% nationally.
305 derelict properties were registered in Waterford in 2021, which is a fall of 3.8% on the year prior. 1.4% of Ireland's derelict properties are in Waterford.
There were 1,260 residential transactions of which 11% were new dwellings. The average price of these transactions stood at €223,571.
Overall, 94.9% of Waterford's property stock is occupied, 2.8% is currently vacant and 2.3% are registered as holiday homes.
Commenting on the findings of the latest Residential Buildings Report, Dara Keogh, CEO of GeoDirectory said:
“Covid-19 has proved to be a substantial speed-bump for the delivery of housing supply in Ireland. The knock-on impact of the closure of construction sites in early 2021 can be seen in the relatively low number of new address points added to the GeoDirectory database, which was down 17.4% on the previous year. However, residential construction activity has rebounded strongly since reopening fully in April, with 19,495 buildings recorded as being under construction in Q4 2021, the highest figure recorded since we started this report in 2014. This indicates a strengthening residential supply pipeline going into 2022.”
Annette Hughes, Director, EY Economic Advisory said:
“The level of housing supply coming onto the market in 2021 was well short of what was needed to meet demand. While the data around residential construction activity in the latter half of 2021 is extremely encouraging, there is still exceptionally high levels of demand in the housing market. This is evident from the significant increase in the average house price, up 9.4% nationally, with price increases recorded in every county. Based on our analysis for this report, the 90,158 vacant residential properties and the 22,096 derelict residential properties across Ireland should be investigated to ascertain if they can be returned to the housing stock, a move which would also support our retrofitting targets.”
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