Donegal house prices expected to continue to soar in 2025

The price of the average second-hand three-bed semi in Donegal is predicted to increase by 10 percent in 2025, according to a national survey by Real Estate Alliance.

Three-bed semi-detached homes in the county now cost an average of €180,000, up 13 percent on the December 2023 average of €160,000, the Q4 REA Average House Price Index shows. Bundoran prices rose 11.4 percent in 2024 to €195,000, while prices in Milford rose by 13.8 percent to €165,000.

“We are seeing strong demand from both Northern Ireland and local buyers, which continues to keep pressure on prices,” said Roger McCarrick of REA McCarrick and Sons, Bundoran.

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“A continued shortage of supply of property to the market will maintain market values and demand,” said Paul McElhinney of REA McElhinney, Milford.

The REA Average House Price Index concentrates on the sale price of Ireland's typical stock home, the three-bed semi, giving an accurate picture of the second-hand property market in towns and cities countrywide.

House prices in western counties increased at twice the rate of the east coast last year as buyers battled over the lowest supply on record, the survey found.

The absence of new home building and historically low supply has seen three-bed semi-detached homes in counties Clare, Donegal, Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo increase by over €10,000 in the past 12 weeks – with an average annual rise of 16 percent. This is twice the rate of increase in commuter counties, which rose by 7.5 percent over 2024.

The actual selling price of a three-bed, semi-detached house across the country rose by 2.1 percent in the past three months to €330,602, and 9 percent overall annually.

REA agents nationwide are predicting a 6 percent rise in house prices in 2025. Actual selling prices in Dublin city rose by 1.8 percent in the last three months, and the average three-bed semi in the capital is now selling at €542,000.

Prices in the major cities outside the capital rose by an average of 2 percent to €348,000 in the last three months – an annual rate of increase of 7.7 percent, with agents predicting a further 9 percent rise in 2025.

Homes in the country’s large towns continue to show the biggest growth nationwide, up 11.5 percent on last September and 2.6 percent this quarter to an average of €249,448.

Homes in commuter counties rose by 2 percent over the past three months to an average of €343,778, an annual rise of 7.5 percent.