Latest Daft.ie report shows extent of rise of house prices in Louth

Listed house prices in Louth in the third quarter (Q3) of 2026 were on average 3.7% higher than a year ago, according to the latest Daft.ie Sales Report released on Monday by Ireland’s largest property website, Daft.ie.

This was higher than the average list price nationally, which was 3% in the year to September 2026.

According to the Daft.ie Sales Report for Q3 2026, the typical price of a three-bedroom semi-detached house listed in Louth was €346,000.

The median price of a newly-built home in the year to June 2026 in Louth was €399,500. The typical price per square metre of a three- or four-bedroom house in Louth in the third quarter of 2026 €3,284.

The latest report also provides a snapshot of average list price of different sized houses in Louth and the year-on-year change for each. They are as follows:

• Semi-d 3-bed - €340K – up 5.3%
• Semi-d 4-bed - €416K - up 6.0%
• Detached 2-bed - €300K - up 8.4%
• Detached 3-bed - €408K - up 5.0%
• Detached 4-bed - €541K - up 7.4%
• Detached 5-bed - €616K – down 3.8%
• Terraced 2-bed - €261K - up 3.1%
• Terraced 3-bed - €285K - up 3.1%
• Terraced 4-bed - €376K – up 9.5%
• Apartment 2-bed - €226K - up 2.5%

In Leinster (outside Dublin), list prices rose by an average of 2.1% in the year to September, down from 7.2% a year previously.

There were almost 3,500 homes for sale in Leinster on September 1st – up 21% on a year ago but down over 40% compared to pre-covid levels.

Nationally, the average list price nationally rose by 3% in the year to September 2026, roughly half the rate of inflation seen a year ago.

The average list price across all property types in the third quarter of the year was just under €445,000.

List prices are now, on average, 44% above their pre-Covid levels and 7.5% below their Celtic Tiger peak.

Daft.ie said that the slowdown is even sharper in transaction prices. Analysis of transactions registered in the Property Price Register and matched to the Daft.ie database suggests that prices rose by just 0.8% in the year to September – the slowest rate of increase since 2020.

With list prices now rising faster than transaction prices, the typical gap between the initial listed price and the ultimate transaction price – a measure of market heat – narrowed to 2.6% nationally, down from 6.8% a year earlier and the smallest gap since 2023.

Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, Economist at Trinity College Dublin, said: “The clearest message from the third quarter is that house price inflation is easing – visible in both list prices and transaction prices.

"A year ago, the typical home ultimately sold for 6.8% more than the initial list price. Now, with list prices rising faster than sale prices, that ‘market heat’ measure has fallen to 2.6%.

“Ideally, price pressures would ease because second-hand supply has finally recovered after collapsing during covid.

"However, for second-hand homes at least, the figures say otherwise: the flow of homes coming onto the market has been flat for three years.

"What has changed is how quickly those homes sell. Outside Dublin, at least some demand has switched to new homes but in Dublin, sales of both new and second-hand homes fell.”

He added, "that is the clearest sign of genuinely softer demand, and a signal to watch in the coming quarters.”