Rising rents and house prices has triggered a “collapse” in home ownership rates among adults of prime working age (25-54) in the Republic.House prices are now six to seven times average salaries, making housing “severely unaffordable” for many workers.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, earnings have declined and become stagnant for several years and have not kept pace with house prices or rents. House prices increased by 77%, dwarfing nominal wage growth of 23% over the same time period. As a result, home ownership has declined by 10% between 2012 and 2020, while the number of households renting rose from 21% to 28%.

The affordability gap was most apparent in Dublin. From 2010 to 2020, Dublin properties were, on average, 1.55 times more expensive than house prices across the State. These high prices are pushing buyers out of the city and into commuter counties, which is reflected in the 13.2% growth in prices outside Dublin in the last year to September.

The total value of mortgage approvals was €11.1 billion in the first 10 months of 2021, it said, compared to €8 billion during the same period in 2020 and €9.7 billion in the full year of 2019. Due to people saving during Covid, it has caused an increase in mortgage approval leading to a more competitive property market. With such low supply on the market, property prices will keep surging.

The housing affordability has also deteriorated for renters, noting that rents are now 40% higher than their pre-crisis levels in Dublin, where rents have doubled in the past decade, and are 20% higher in the rest of the State.

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