Ireland's property market is caught between unstoppable demand and a chronic shortfall in supply. With house prices up 7.4% and rents hitting record highs, this is the most comprehensive look at where the market stands — and where it's going.
Ireland's real estate market in 2026 is a story of deep structural tension. On one side, the country is riding a wave of economic strength — multinational investment remains resilient, employment is robust, and population growth is adding thousands of new households every year. On the other, Ireland simply cannot build homes fast enough to meet that demand.
The result is a market that rewards those who already own property while placing extraordinary pressure on those who do not. Prices are rising. Rents are climbing. Available homes — whether to buy or to rent — are scarcer than at almost any point in the past twenty years. And the gap between what the market needs and what it produces shows no sign of closing before the end of the decade.
This report cuts through the noise to give you the data, the trends, and the analysis you need to understand Ireland's property market in 2026 — whether you are a buyer, a seller, an investor, or simply someone watching closely.
Irish house prices ended 2025 on a strong footing. According to the most recent data, the national average rose by 7.4% year on year — a figure that masks a sharp divergence between the capital and the rest of the country.
Dublin's price growth, at 5.3%, was notably more moderate than the 9.2% recorded outside the capital. This pattern reflects the growing affordability ceiling in Dublin, where buyers are increasingly reaching the limits of what mortgage lending criteria will support. Outside Dublin, where prices remain lower in absolute terms, demand continues to push values up more aggressively.
House price growth by region — year on year to late 2025
Source: CSO Residential Property Price Index, Daft.ie Q4 2025 Report, Global Property Guide Ireland 2026.
Several structural forces continue to push demand well ahead of supply. Net migration into Ireland remains strongly positive, driven by multinational employment in the tech and pharmaceutical sectors. Population growth and new household formation are adding persistent pressure to a market that was already undersupplied heading into 2025.
The mortgage landscape has also become more supportive. The average Irish mortgage rate now sits at approximately 3.58%, down from the highs of 2023 following multiple ECB rate cuts. While the European Central Bank has signalled a pause in further reductions, the improvement in borrowing costs over the past two years has meaningfully widened the pool of viable buyers.
"Ireland's housing market enters 2026 with confidence but caution. Prices continue to climb, supported by strong demand and limited supply, yet affordability remains stretched for many buyers."
— Team Lorraine, Irish Property Market Forecast 2026
In Dublin, the average house price now stands at approximately €500,000 — making it one of the most expensive cities in Europe relative to local incomes. For first-time buyers, this translates directly into stress. A household purchasing at the median Dublin price, with a 10% deposit, would require a mortgage of roughly €450,000. At current rates, that represents monthly repayments of around €2,300 — a figure that places homeownership out of reach for significant portions of the workforce.
Lisney, one of Ireland's leading estate agencies, forecasts that national house price growth will moderate to around 5% in 2026, easing from 7% in 2025 and 11% in 2024. This deceleration is not a sign of weakness but of a market running into its own affordability limits — a natural correction mechanism that slows growth without triggering a reversal.
| Region | 2024 Growth | 2025 Growth | 2026 Forecast | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | +11% | +7.4% | +3–6% | Moderating |
| Dublin | +9% | +5.3% | +2–5% | Affordability ceiling |
| Outside Dublin | +13% | +9.2% | +4–7% | Sustained demand |
| Cork | +10% | +8.2% | +4–6% | Strong fundamentals |
| Connacht/Ulster | +12% | +10.1% | +5–8% | High growth, lower base |
Investment Insight
Energy-efficient properties — those rated A or B on the Building Energy Rating (BER) scale — are projected to outperform the broader market in 2026. Buyers are increasingly factoring running costs into purchase decisions, and mortgage lenders are beginning to price energy performance into lending terms.
No single factor shapes the Irish property market more profoundly than the persistent and severe shortage of housing. This is not a new problem — it has been building for over a decade — but it has intensified to the point where it now touches every corner of the market: prices, rents, investment returns, and social mobility alike.
The supply gap — homes needed vs homes built, 2025
Annual demand
50,000New homes needed per year to balance the market
Actual completions
32,000Estimated completions in 2025 — a decade-high, but still far short
Sources: Lisney Property Market Outlook 2026; ESRI; Department of Housing, Ireland. Experts estimate 45,000–60,000 new homes are needed annually to balance demand.
Ireland completed approximately 32,000 new homes in 2025 — a figure that is, by any historical measure, impressive. It is the highest completion rate in over a decade and reflects genuine progress on the supply side. But it remains 18,000 units short of the minimum needed to keep pace with household formation, and roughly 28,000 short of what would be required to make meaningful inroads into the existing undersupply.
In Q2 2025 alone, over 9,200 new homes were completed — a 35% increase year on year. Yet even at this accelerated pace, the market continues to fall further behind. The ESRI and other research bodies have consistently estimated that Ireland needs between 45,000 and 60,000 new homes per year through to at least 2030 to bring the market into balance.
Annual housing completions — Ireland 2018–2025 + projection
Sources: CSO New Dwelling Completions, Department of Housing. 2025 figure is estimated. Annual target based on ESRI and Housing for All projections.
The barriers to faster supply growth are structural and persistent. Planning delays remain a serious constraint, with major residential developments often taking four to six years from land acquisition to occupation. Construction cost inflation — driven by global materials prices and a tight labour market for skilled trades — has squeezed developer margins to the point where many apartment projects are only viable with state subsidy.
Land hoarding, slow rezoning processes, and infrastructure deficits in high-demand areas outside the major cities further constrain output. AECOM, one of Ireland's largest construction consultancies, has specifically flagged a skills shortage in the sector as a potential drag on the government's ambitious 2030 delivery targets.
Key Risk
Supply is unlikely to reach the 50,000–60,000 annual completions that experts say are needed to balance the market before 2030. This means the upward structural pressure on both prices and rents is set to continue for the medium term, barring a significant change in construction sector capacity or planning policy.
If the residential sales market is under strain, the rental market is in crisis. The combination of supply shortages, growing demand, and the ongoing exit of small landlords from the market has pushed availability to levels not seen in nearly two decades.
According to Daft.ie's Q4 2025 Rental Report, authored by Ronan Lyons of Trinity College Dublin, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment nationwide reached €2,086 in the final quarter of 2025. Rents have now risen in thirteen of the past fourteen years, stand 34% above their pre-Covid levels, and are approximately 80% higher than a decade ago.
Average national 2-bed rent — Q4 each year (€ per month)
Source: Daft.ie Q4 2025 Rental Report. Q4 snapshot per year. National average, 2-bedroom properties.
The number of properties available to rent is now, by Daft.ie's own analysis, just two-fifths of the 2015–2019 average — and the situation is significantly worse outside Leinster. In February 2026, the platform recorded the lowest level of rental properties available for that time of year in almost twenty years.
A critical driver of this shortage has been the large-scale exit of small private landlords from the market. Sherry FitzGerald, Ireland's largest estate agency, reported a net loss of approximately 42,300 rental properties owned by private investors between January 2020 and the end of March 2025. These properties were typically sold — often to owner-occupiers — removing them permanently from the rental pool.
Build-to-rent (BTR) developments have emerged as one of the primary policy and market responses to the rental shortage. A €180 million deal at Dublin Landings, led by Quantum, signalled the continued appetite of institutional capital for this asset class. However, BTR development is concentrated in Dublin and a handful of other urban centres — it has not meaningfully addressed the shortage in regional markets.
Ireland's commercial property market is undergoing a nuanced transformation in 2026. While the headline office vacancy rate of roughly 14% in Dublin appears elevated, closer analysis reveals a market that is far more differentiated than that figure suggests.
Dublin office take-up outperformed expectations in 2025, reaching 243,000 sq m — marginally ahead of the ten-year average. CBRE forecasts another year of over 200,000 sq m of take-up in 2026, driven by return-to-office trends, strong demand for energy-efficient and amenity-rich space, and a resurgence of activity in the tech sector.
The critical nuance, however, is that the overall vacancy rate is deeply misleading. Prime Grade A+ office space in Dublin's city centre is approaching scarcity conditions. Prime rents rose 4% year on year to reach €65 per sq ft in Q4 2025 — the highest level ever recorded — and forecasts for pre-let deals on future stock point to rents of €75–€80 per sq ft. Meanwhile, older secondary stock built before 2010, which accounts for more than 70% of Dublin's office inventory, faces a very different reality: structural vacancy that will require substantial capital investment to address.
Commercial real estate — 2026 sector snapshot
Source: CBRE Ireland Real Estate Market Outlook 2026; Lisney Property Market Outlook 2026.
Ireland's prime retail property market is one of the tightest in Europe. The vacancy rate on Grafton Street — Dublin's most prestigious retail thoroughfare — stood at just 3% at the end of 2025, and the newly developed Grafton Place at 60 Dawson Street is expected to reach full occupancy in the near term. Modern, large-format retail units are effectively unavailable in prime locations, creating a structural advantage for existing occupiers.
The industrial and logistics sector continues to see demand outpacing supply. Take-up reached 221,000 sq m in 2025, and vacancy rates remain low. Despite initial concerns about trade tariffs, operators largely adjusted the timing rather than the scale of their real estate commitments. Ireland's tariff exposure is also notably more limited than initial headlines suggested: the effective tariff rate on Irish exports to the US falls below 3% when pharmaceutical, semiconductor, and aircraft components — Ireland's dominant export categories — are excluded from the calculation.
Healthcare property — encompassing nursing homes, primary care centres, private hospitals, and residential care facilities — has attracted sustained international capital interest in 2026. As a defensive asset class with long-term structural demand driven by Ireland's ageing population, it is increasingly part of the investment conversation for both domestic and overseas institutional investors.
One of the defining features of the Irish property market in 2026 is that the most dynamic price growth is no longer in Dublin. The combination of remote working flexibility, improved road and rail connectivity, and the sheer unaffordability of the capital has driven sustained demand into regional cities and commuter counties.
Affordability ceiling moderating growth. Prime commercial office rents at all-time highs. BTR active. Strong employment base.
Ireland's second city outperforming Dublin on price growth. Strong pharma/tech employment. Rental yield of ~8.2% noted.
University city with strong rental demand. Life sciences employment growing. Short supply in city core.
Fastest growing mid-size city. Significant tech and pharma presence. High rental yields relative to purchase price.
Strong manufacturing base. One of the most affordable cities with improving infrastructure links to Dublin.
Highest growth rate nationally. Low base prices attracting first-time buyers and remote workers. Rental supply critically low.
Regional Investment Insight
Coastal locations, established suburbs within strong school catchments, and areas along major transport corridors — particularly the DART and Luas lines in Greater Dublin, and the M8 and M17 corridors — are expected to outperform the broader market in 2026, according to Lisney's analysis.
After a period of compression and caution, institutional investment in Irish real estate is showing clear signs of recovery. Total investment spend in 2025 remained broadly flat at €2.5 billion despite stronger deal momentum and growing international interest as the year progressed. In 2026, market forecasters are considerably more optimistic.
JLL Ireland forecasts that total real estate investment in Ireland could increase by as much as 60% in 2026, potentially reaching €4 billion. CBRE's outlook is broadly aligned, forecasting investment volumes above €3 billion and possibly trending towards €4 billion. The firm notes that pent-up deal activity — strategies deferred over recent years due to market volatility — is now reaching execution.
Total real estate investment in Ireland (€bn) — 2019–2026 forecast
Sources: CBRE Ireland Market Outlook 2026; JLL Ireland 2026 Forecast; Bisnow Dublin. 2026 is forecast range.
Grade A+ city-centre stock in Dublin attracting strong occupier and investor interest. Rental growth forecast.
ActiveInstitutional BTR still seeing major transactions. Dublin Landings €180m deal signals continued confidence.
Strong demandStructural undersupply continuing. GIC in lead position for Ireland's largest-ever I&L deal.
Supply deficitDefensive long-income asset. Nursing homes, PCCs, and private hospitals drawing international capital.
GrowingLand sales expected to rise in 2026. Camden Yard and other large-scale sites advancing to market.
RisingGrafton Street at 3% vacancy. Very limited availability creates stable, income-generating assets.
StableAs JLL Ireland CEO John Moran has observed, "capital is becoming more selective, gravitating towards sectors underpinned by structural demand and long-term fundamentals." This shift is visible across the market. Opportunistic capital that chased distressed assets in 2023–24 is giving way to longer-term strategic investors focused on living (BTR, student accommodation, social housing), logistics infrastructure, and prime income-producing commercial assets.
International investors — particularly from North America, Germany, and the Gulf — continue to view Ireland's macroeconomic position favourably. Ireland's effective exposure to US tariffs is lower than headlines suggest, with core export categories exempt, and FDI-led job creation through the IDA has remained remarkably resilient despite the global trade uncertainty of 2025.
Ireland's real estate market in 2026 is fundamentally supply-driven. That single statement captures the core dynamic better than any other: in a market where demand consistently and significantly exceeds supply, prices and rents move in one direction over time, with only the pace of movement subject to meaningful variation.
The consensus across the major forecasters — Lisney, CBRE, JLL, ESRI, and Investropa — points to national house price growth of 3–6% in 2026, with Dublin at the lower end and regional markets at the higher end. This moderation from 2025's 7.4% reflects affordability constraints tightening their grip on buyer capacity, not any fundamental weakening of demand.
Moderation to 3–5% price growth nationally. Investment volumes recover sharply. BTR and logistics lead deal activity. Rental supply remains critically constrained.
Major transport infrastructure (MetroLink, DART+) advances through planning and early construction. Cherrywood and Clonburris SDZs deliver significant residential volume to the Greater Dublin market. Completions begin to approach 38,000–42,000 units annually.
Government target of 50,000 annual completions approaches feasibility — though skills shortages and construction cost pressures may delay full achievement. Upward price pressure continues, though the rate of growth may slow further as supply incrementally improves.
Downside Risks
Multinational exposure: A significant shock to Ireland's FDI base — whether through changes to global corporate tax norms or a contraction in tech sector employment — would reduce demand sharply. ECB rate reversal: A return to higher interest rates would reduce buyer affordability and compress investment yields simultaneously. Construction sector capacity: AECOM's warning about skills shortages is a genuine constraint on supply-side improvement.
Upside Scenarios
An acceleration of planning reform — particularly around strategic development zones — could bring additional supply to market faster than current forecasts assume. A more aggressive government affordable housing programme, or expanded use of the Land Development Agency's pipeline, could also meaningfully improve conditions for first-time buyers without materially dampening investor returns.
