Most expensive places
to buy property in Ireland
County-by-county price rankings, Eircode district data, and a choropleth map — sourced from the Property Price Register, 2025.
Last updated: 31 December 2025·Property Price Register
Most expensive county
Dublin
€520,000
Cheapest county
Leitrim
€160,000
National median
€335,000
All counties 2025
Dublin premium
+55%
vs national median
Property prices by county
Hover over any county to see its median price and national rank. Darker = more expensive.
Median price
Top 5 most expensive
5 most affordable
Complete county price ranking
Ranked by median transaction price, 2025. Click any column header to re-sort.
| #↑ | County↕ | Median Price↕ | YoY↕ | vs National↕ | Transactions↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DublinLeinster | €520,000 | +5.2% | +55.2% | 14,800 |
| 2 | WicklowLeinster | €420,000 | +6.1% | +25.4% | 2,100 |
| 3 | KildareLeinster | €380,000 | +7.3% | +13.4% | 3,200 |
| 4 | MeathLeinster | €360,000 | +8.1% | +7.5% | 2,900 |
| 5 | CorkMunster | €340,000 | +8.2% | +1.5% | 5,400 |
| 6 | GalwayConnacht | €320,000 | +9.4% | -4.5% | 2,900 |
| 7 | LouthLeinster | €310,000 | +7.9% | -7.5% | 1,600 |
| 8 | LimerickMunster | €285,000 | +9.1% | -14.9% | 2,300 |
| 9 | WexfordLeinster | €268,000 | +6.4% | -20.0% | 1,800 |
| 10 | ClareMunster | €255,000 | +7.2% | -23.9% | 1,100 |
| 11 | KilkennyLeinster | €255,000 | +5.8% | -23.9% | 1,200 |
| 12 | WaterfordMunster | €240,000 | +8.8% | -28.4% | 1,500 |
| 13 | KerryMunster | €235,000 | +7.6% | -29.9% | 1,800 |
| 14 | WestmeathLeinster | €215,000 | +5.9% | -35.8% | 720 |
| 15 | CarlowLeinster | €215,000 | +6.2% | -35.8% | 750 |
| 16 | TipperaryMunster | €210,000 | +6.3% | -37.3% | 1,400 |
| 17 | LaoisLeinster | €205,000 | +7.0% | -38.8% | 780 |
| 18 | SligoConnacht | €200,000 | +8.9% | -40.3% | 680 |
| 19 | OffalyLeinster | €198,000 | +6.5% | -40.9% | 640 |
| 20 | MayoConnacht | €190,000 | +7.8% | -43.3% | 1,200 |
| 21 | DonegalUlster | €185,000 | +8.5% | -44.8% | 1,100 |
| 22 | CavanUlster | €180,000 | +7.4% | -46.3% | 580 |
| 23 | MonaghanUlster | €178,000 | +6.8% | -46.9% | 490 |
| 24 | RoscommonConnacht | €185,000 | +7.1% | -44.8% | 520 |
| 25 | LongfordLeinster | €170,000 | +8.4% | -49.3% | 420 |
| 26 | LeitrimConnacht | €160,000 | +9.2% | -52.2% | 310 |
| Source: Property Price Register (PSRA) — transactions Jan–Dec 2025. Click column headers to sort. | |||||
The spread: cheapest to most expensive
A 225% gap separates Leitrim from Dublin. Red dashed line is the national median.
Median price by county — cheapest to most expensive
Green bars = below national median · Dark green = above national median
Source: Property Price Register (PSRA), 2025
Top 10 most expensive Eircode districts
Dublin dominates. D4 alone has a median three times higher than the national average. Minimum 30 transactions required to be included.
What drives prices in Ireland
Three structural factors explain most of the county-level price variation.
Driver 1
Proximity to Dublin
Wicklow: €420k median — 25% above national
The strongest predictor of property price in Ireland is commute distance from Dublin. Counties within 90 minutes of the M50 — Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, Louth — command significant premiums over their distance-adjusted peers. Remote working has widened the commutable catchment, pushing prices outward.
Driver 2
Coastal & scenic premium
Coastal Wicklow properties: 18% above county median
Sea views, access to amenities, and lifestyle desirability push prices in coastal micro-markets significantly above county medians. South Dublin (D4, D6, D18) and coastal Wicklow are Ireland's most extreme examples. Kerry and West Cork also carry notable scenic premiums relative to their county medians.
Driver 3
School catchment effect
D6 vs D12: €280k median gap for equivalent property
Within urban areas — particularly Dublin — school catchment boundaries create sharp price discontinuities on otherwise similar streets. Properties within the catchment areas of high-performing secondary schools command persistent premiums of 15–30% over comparable properties outside the boundary.
How these figures are calculated
Data source
All transaction data is sourced from the Residential Property Price Register (PPR), maintained by the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA). The PPR records all residential property sales since January 2010.
Minimum transaction threshold
County medians require a minimum of 100 transactions in the year. Eircode district medians require a minimum of 30 transactions. Areas below these thresholds are not reported to avoid statistical distortion from small samples.
County classification
Properties are assigned to counties based on the Eircode routing key and address field in the PPR. A small number of entries with ambiguous addresses (~2%) are excluded.
Eircode districts
Eircode district analysis uses the first 3 characters of the Eircode (routing key). Dublin postcodes (D1–D24) are treated as individual districts. Rural routing keys aggregate all transactions within that key across a broader geographic area.
Update frequency
This page is updated quarterly. Data covers transactions through 31 December 2025.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most expensive county in Ireland to buy a house?+
Dublin is consistently the most expensive county in Ireland for residential property. In 2025, the median transaction price in Dublin is €520,000 — 55% above the national median of €335,000.
Is Dublin the most expensive place to buy in Ireland?+
Yes. Dublin has been the most expensive county in Ireland for residential property consistently since records began. Within Dublin, the D4 (Ballsbridge/Sandymount) and D6 (Ranelagh/Rathmines) postal districts record the highest Eircode-level medians, typically above €750,000.
What is the cheapest county to buy a house in Ireland?+
Leitrim is consistently Ireland's most affordable county for property purchases. In 2025, the median price is €160,000. Longford and Roscommon are also among the cheapest, with medians below €190,000.
Are house prices higher in Wicklow or Cork?+
Wicklow is more expensive than Cork. In 2025, the median price in Wicklow is €420,000 (ranked 2nd nationally), while Cork's median is €340,000 (ranked 5th). Wicklow's proximity to Dublin drives its premium — it is a popular commuter county.
Why are house prices so high in Dublin compared to the rest of Ireland?+
Dublin accounts for approximately 40% of Ireland's total GDP and is home to the headquarters of most major employers. Structural undersupply of new housing stock, planning constraints, strong inward migration, and institutional demand from international tech companies' employees all contribute to the sustained Dublin price premium.
How much more expensive is Dublin than the national average?+
In 2025, Dublin's median price of €520,000 is 55.2% above the national median of €335,000. This premium has widened from roughly 19% in 2012 to over 55% today.
For journalists and researchers
Suggested citation
PropertyTech.ie. “Most Expensive Places to Buy Property in Ireland.” 2026. Accessed 28 May 2026. propertytech.ie/stats/most-expensive-places-to-buy-in-ireland
All underlying data is sourced from the Property Price Register (PSRA), which is published under the Open Government Licence. We ask that you credit PropertyTech.ie and link to this page when using this data in publications.