December property sales register first year-on-year increase in 2023

A year marked with a consistent trend of relatively low final property sales but heightened activity in promise of sale agreements, indicating a promising future turnaround for the market, ended on a high when final deeds registered a year-on-year increase in December 2023.

The number of final deeds of sale relating to residential property amounted to 1,047 during December 2023, an increase of 26 deeds when compared to those registered a year earlier, according to new data released by the National Statistics Office.

During December 2023, 1,052 promise of sale agreements relating to residential property were registered, an increase of 51 agreements over the same period in 2022.

In relation to the amounts registered in 2022, the final deeds of sale increased by 2.5 per cent, whereas promise of sale agreements increased by 5.1 per cent.

The relatively low number of final deeds of sale signed in 2023 (12,178; 2022: 14,331; 2021: 14,368) reflects the similarly low number of promise of sale agreements signed in 2022 (12,164; 2021: 15,639).

Responding to concerns of a slowdown, real estate experts largely quashed any talk of a potential slowdown, pointing instead to the impact of generous Government subsidies to the property sector that ran through 2021, pushing many purchases forward.

With the number of promise of sale agreements signed in 2023 being 8.6 per cent higher than the number signed in 2022, it seems that the property sector will remain robust in the near-term.

The number of final deeds of sale relating to residential property amounted to 1,047 during December 2023, an increase of 26 deeds when compared to those registered a year earlier.

Value of transactions

The value of deeds registered in December 2023 totalled €282.2 million, representing an increase of 21.6 per cent when compared to the corresponding value recorded in December 2022.

Looking at the yearly total, the value of all property transactions in 2023 amounted to €3.22 billion, slightly less than the €3.3 billion registered in 2022 but higher than the €3.16 billion recorded in 2021.