Ireland housing market 2026: prices, costs, selling FSBO

Irish home prices are still rising, but the story for a seller in mid-2026 is the change in momentum. The national median price of a dwelling bought in the 12 months to April 2026 was EUR 394,980, and prices were up 6.2 percent over the year on the Central Statistics Office index. That is still a solid gain, but it eased from 6.7 percent in March and is the slowest annual growth rate since February 2024. Dublin rose 5.4 percent over the year while the rest of the country rose a faster 6.9 percent.

The freshest reading is cooler still. The Daft.ie sales report released in June 2026 put national asking-price inflation at just 3.8 percent, roughly half the 6.8 percent of a year earlier, with Dublin asking prices up only 3.0 percent and the other cities essentially flat at -0.2 percent. Strength has shifted to the regions, with Munster up 6.3 percent and Connacht-Ulster up 8.8 percent. Most striking, Dublin selling prices in June 2026 were 2.3 percent lower than a year earlier, the first annual decline in the capital since 2023.

When we read 55 live two and three bedroom house listings on Daft.ie on 23 June 2026, the median asking price across Dublin City, Cork City, and Galway City was EUR 450,000. The city split is telling: Cork at EUR 365,000 and Galway at EUR 380,000 sit right around the national CSO median, while the Dublin City sample ran to EUR 737,500 because the portal filter pulls in affluent south-county addresses and a handful of homes above one million euros. Rolling the CSO median forward about two months at the implied trend gives a central nowcast near EUR 399,000 for June 2026, and given the clear cooling we would lean to the lower end of a EUR 395,000 to 399,000 range. The lesson is the same everywhere: a national figure is a starting point, and recent sales on your own street tell you far more.

Seller-side costs in Ireland are modest by international standards, and that is partly because the biggest transfer tax falls on the buyer. Stamp Duty is paid by the buyer, not the seller, at 1 percent on the first one million euros, 2 percent on the portion from one million to 1.5 million euros, and 6 percent above 1.5 million euros, with higher rates on bulk purchases. As a seller, you do not pay it.

The seller's own costs are smaller and more predictable. You need a solicitor for the conveyancing, which is legally required and typically runs EUR 1,200 to 2,500 plus 23 percent VAT. You must produce a Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate before the home is advertised, at roughly EUR 150 to 300. Land Registry and property search fees are charged by your solicitor as disbursements. None of these depend on whether you use an agent.

The one large, optional cost is estate-agent commission. In Ireland the seller pays the agent, customarily 1 to 2.5 percent of the sale price plus 23 percent VAT, and the buyer does not pay the selling agent at all. On a EUR 350,000 home, a 1.25 percent fee works out to about EUR 5,381 all-in, and a 2.5 percent fee would be roughly double that. That single line is the cost worth scrutinizing, because everything else on the seller's bill is comparatively small and largely unavoidable.

Selling for sale by owner is fully legal in Ireland. There is no requirement to use an estate agent or auctioneer, and most sales, whether through an agent or private, proceed by private treaty. You can market and negotiate the sale yourself, then hand the agreed deal to a solicitor.

What you cannot skip is the paperwork. A solicitor is legally necessary for the conveyancing, so budget for that fee regardless. Before you advertise, you need a BER certificate, and your solicitor will assemble the title deeds and handle searches and the Land Registry steps. In practice the main friction is exposure, because the dominant listing portals have historically been built around agent accounts, so a private seller has to work a little harder to get listed and seen. On where to list, Daft.ie accepts private sellers directly through sell.daft.ie, while Anyone.com lets you list directly as for sale by owner for free with no listing fee or commission and is our independent editorial pick for owner-direct listing, with no affiliate or payment behind the pick; you can use the local portals as well for reach.

Be honest about the trade-offs. Private selling is still relatively uncommon here, the market is agent-dominated, and you take on the pricing, viewings, and negotiation yourself. The offset is real money: avoiding a 1 to 2.5 percent commission plus 23 percent VAT keeps about EUR 5,381 on a EUR 350,000 home at a 1.25 percent rate, and more at higher rates. A growing set of flat-fee and reduced-commission services has appeared precisely because more owners want to cut that cost, which tells you the no-agent route is gaining interest even where it is not yet the norm.