Taking the temperature of the Irish housing market in Q2

Ahead of the Q2 Bank of Ireland/MyHOME report—which we will publish in July and which will set out how asking prices moved ahead of the key summer trading season—we thought now was a good time to take stock of recent developments in the Irish housing market.

RPPI transaction price data have had a soft start to 2026, down 0.3% in February and flat in March. However, the start of the calendar year often sees muted price movements. Looking ahead, the 1% rise in MyHome asking prices in Q1 (+4.7% YoY), along with the increase in the average mortgage approval to €341,000 (+1.7% YoY), point to price gains in the coming months. Crucially, transactions in April/May continued to settle 6.7% above asking (at the median), pointing to sustained fierce competition among homebuyers into 2026. For now, we are sticking with our forecast for 4% RPPI inflation this year.

Transactional activity has expanded to a fresh post-Celtic Tiger-era high of 64,300 transactions in the 12 months to March. A key drawback is that rising transactions entirely reflect homebuilding, with liquidity for existing homes still contracting. Existing homeowners are increasingly reluctant to move. However, the 50% rise in terminating rental tenancies to 7,000 in Q1 2026 means exiting landlords from the private rented sector (PRS) could temporarily boost housing market liquidity by circa 5% in 2026. Finally, the news on homebuilding has been unequivocally positive, with potentially 40,000 completions now possible in 2026.

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Bank of Ireland Economics Weekly May 27th 2026