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This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources.
In 2024 the national median income of residential property purchasers was €84,400, up from €80,100 in 2023, and €75,600 in 2022.
Just over 60% of residential properties were purchased jointly in 2024.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest joint purchaser income in 2024 at €157,100, and the lowest was Monaghan, at €77,900.
Longford was the county with the lowest median purchase price in 2024, at €182,200, and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median price, at €660,000.
Sligo was the county with the biggest annual percentage increase in median purchase price in 2024, rising by 26%, followed by Limerick and Westmeath, up 17% and 16% respectively.
Almost a third of people who bought a dwelling in 2024 were aged 35 or under. Around 11% of purchasers were aged 60 and over.
The median income for purchasers aged under 35 in 2024 was €86,400.
In 2022, 8% of people who bought a home and were counted in Census 2022 were living with their parents.
This publication is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release.
CSO Frontier Series may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. Publishing outputs under the Frontier Series allows the CSO to provide useful new information to users and get informed feedback on these new methods and outputs whilst at the same time making sure that the limitations are well explained and understood.
In using the increasingly varied sources of data available, the CSO must ensure that we continue to protect and secure data. Our aim is to ensure that citizens can live in an informed society while at the same time ensuring adherence to all relevant data protection legislation.
Prior to reading this publication users should note some of the limitations in the data sources. In particular, there are some missing values in some of the sources so this data cannot be regarded as complete. While the CSO still believes publishing this data provides valuable insights into the type of individuals who are purchasing properties in Ireland, care should be taken when interpreting results, over time, across cohorts and at some lower geographical levels.
For further information on the data sources, linking procedures and limitations of this report, see the Background Notes section.
This report has been complied utilising administrative data and is an example of the policy relevant research projects the CSO are developing as part of its leadership role of the Irish Statistical System. The goal in the CSO is to maximise the variety and volume of high quality information provided to citizens, businesses and the Government which forms the foundation for evidence-based decision-making and the basis for accountability. The CSO is in a unique position to access and link administrative data held by Government Departments and Agencies for statistical use only by using the Statistics Act 1993, in compliance with all relevant data protection legislation.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (25 September 2025) published Characteristics of Residential Property Purchasers 2024.
Commenting on the release, Kayla Farrell, Statistician in the Housing Division, said: "Today’s Frontier Release provides information about the characteristics of people who purchased residential property in Ireland between 2022 and 2024. Price paid, age, income, employment status, nature of occupancy, household composition, occupation, and citizenship are explored. Using Census 2022 data also provides additional insight into the people who bought a home in 2022.
Prices
Properties purchased in Dublin had the highest median price for all transaction types in 2024. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was the Local Authority with the highest median transaction price, at €660,000. On a smaller scale, the Local Electoral Area (LEA) with the highest median price was Pembroke, Dublin City, with a value of €820,000. Pembroke also recorded the highest median price among properties bought by joint purchasers with a value of €940,000. For sole purchasers, the highest median price was found in Stillorgan, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at €687,500. The largest difference in price between sole and joint purchasers was also in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, where the median price of a property purchased by a sole buyer was €541,600, while for joint buyers it was €710,000, a difference of €168,400. The county with the lowest median purchase price in 2024 was Longford, at €182,200. Donegal had the LEA with the lowest median purchase price; Carndonagh, at €147,500.
Age and Income
The median age of a sole purchaser in 2024 was 42. It was 38 for a joint purchaser. The youngest cohort of purchasers on average was in South Dublin, with a median age of 37, while the oldest was in Kerry, with a median age of 45. Among LEAs, Ballyfermot-Drimnagh, in Dublin City, had the lowest median age for all types of purchasers at 35. The LEA with the highest median age of 54 was Belmullet, in Mayo. The median income of joint purchasers was €101,200 in 2024 nationally. The lowest median income for joint purchasers was in Co. Monaghan, at €77,900, and the highest was in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at €157,100. Among sole purchasers, Dublin City had the highest median income, at €71,200, and Leitrim had the lowest, at €40,200.
Looking at LEAs, joint median income among purchasers varied from a low of €60,000 in Carndonagh, Donegal, to a high of €211,500 in Pembroke, Dublin. Among the 166 LEAs, 53 (32%) had a joint purchaser income equal to or above €100,000.
Changes Over Time
Nationally, the number of homes purchased stood at 50,030 in 2022, rising to 50,230 in 2023, and falling to 48,780 in 2024. Between 2023 and 2024, the volume of sales in Co. Wicklow rose by 19%, the largest increase by county. Kildare had the largest drop in sales, seeing a 21% fall during this time. Sligo was the county with the biggest percentage increase in median purchase price in 2024, going up 26% from the 2023 median price, from €190,000 to €239,000. The counties with the next highest increase in median prices were Limerick and Westmeath, up 17% and 16% respectively. There were no decreases in median price at a county level between 2023 and 2024. Roscommon had the biggest increase in median income by county for all types of purchasers between 2023 and 2024, going up 16%, from €54,700 to €63,200. The median age nationally for purchasers in 2024 was 40, which was unchanged since 2021.
Census 2022 Characteristics
Approximately 8% of property purchasers in 2022 who were matched to Census 2022 were living with their parents at the time of the census. Over 85% of purchasers matched to Census 2022 were employed. Looking at nature of occupancy, 35% were enumerated in households that were renting, while 33% were in households that owned their home with a mortgage or loan. Around 65% of purchasers were recorded in the census as being in households composed of married or cohabiting couples (both with and without children) on Census Night. Business, Media and Public service professionals, and Science, Research, Engineering and Technology professionals were the most represented professions among purchasers found in Census 2022. In terms of citizenship, 76% of the residential property purchasers who were matched to Census 2022 had Irish citizenship, 11% had citizenship elsewhere in the EU, 7% had citizenship in an Asian country, and 2% had U.K citizenship."