Galway Bay fm newsroom – More than a third of Athenry house sales this year were first time buyer transactions.
A new CSO interactive tool released today uses Eircodes to provide average house prices and statistics on residential sales activity across Ireland.
The CSO’s new tool aims to help give clarity on property prices.
The online facility uses Eircodes to allow users pin point all transactions in a particular area for the previous 12 months.
It allows house hunters or those selling property to accurately compare sale prices in their area.
The CSO says it aims to give a localised overview of the residential market.
The interactive database reveals that Galway City, with an average house price of 210 thousand euro, is dominated by former owner-occupier sales, at 44%.
First time buyers make up 21% of the city housing market, while non-occupiers account for the remaining third.
Non-occupiers, or landlords, dominate the market in Clifden, where a staggering 70% of houses sold are not used as the primary dwelling by the buyer.
To July this year, no first time buyers chose to purchase a home in the West Connemara town – while former owner occupiers account for 30% of residential sales there.
Ballinasloe currently offers the best value for homes according to the CSO database, with an average price of 112 thousand euro.
The statistics for Ballinasloe show an almost equal split between first time buyers, former owner-occupiers and non-occupiers.
38% of house sales in Athenry are first time buyers – despite the fact that the town is just behind the city in terms of average house price at 177 thousand euro.
The town has also seen a significant number of people selling their own family homes this year – these transactions make up 46% of Athenry’s residential sales activity.
Meanwhile, Tuam and Loughrea have seen a significant number of home owners sell on their family dwellings.
58% of sales in Loughrea and 48% in Tuam were former owner-occupier sales.
30% of sales in Tuam and 17% in Loughrea were first time buyer sales.