Families avoiding fixer uppers as material costs continue to soar
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Why are buyers avoiding fixer‑upper homes as renovation costs soar?
The era of the doer upper could be fading fast. New figures from the Real Estate Alliance show buyers are increasingly steering clear of homes that need work as soaring renovation costs and economic uncertainty reshape the property market. So what does that mean for prices, for first time buyers and for the wider housing picture? I'm joined now by Real Estate Alliance spokesperson Seamus Carthy. Seamus, good morning, Chip. Uh good morning, David. Start with the doer upper if if we can. A year ago they were attracting bidding wars, not so much now.
Yeah, David, um the REA, uh as you said, Irish Indo Survey is confirming uh the last quarter has definitely uh witnessed um a situation where the Duo Europa uh has played second fiddle to the uh ready to go uh home over the last three months. Um we would feel and our members on the ground would feel that there's a there's a there's a craving for certainty from the marketplace over the last three months and initially this this trend is is is is a flight, I suppose, uh from the proposed purchases to quality and predictability. more so than maybe the unknowns that they may end up dealing with in respect of renovation costs, etcetera.
Yeah, so it's the uncertainty about renovation costs. So you see uh a job that needs to be done, you might get a quote, but um unfortunately we all know uh the cost of of doing anything like that is is going up.
How is economic uncertainty influencing the shift toward ready‑to‑move‑in properties?
Yes, David. And it's it's it's it's, you know, a number of factors here. It's it's the day to day as well. The day to day uncertainty in one's lives at the moment, be it putting diesel in the car or be it, you know, groceries on the table or be it, you know, renewing your insurance. There's a lot of uncertaint uncertainty out there, David. So I suppose the last three months is is is showing that desire from the marketplace of of trying to secure secure some form of certainty and obviously the the ready to go house um offers that.
I I suppose the other thing I 'cause your research shows first time buyers are particularly affected and I presume they're putting every euro they have into the deposit into securing the mortgage. They'll they they may not have the money left over to do renovations.
Yeah, and it i it it it comes back to, you know conversations you and I have had, David, over the last number of of maybe year or so in respect of the affordability ceilings that we understand the market is now reaching. So practically speaking, the the the the the the the the first time buyer who is that you know the heartbeat of this particular market that we're surveying, you know, are are are putting all their, I suppose, uh funds into that ready to go property, more so than being, you know, unsure of exactly what the um end cost might be in terms of a renovation project. But but following on from that, David, uh
What impact does this trend have on first‑time buyers and their mortgage deposits?
There may, as a result of that, be opportunities in the marketplace for the for the dual upper, but we can we can talk about that in further detail.
Uh just uh uh before we get into that, on the other side of the equation is um the person selling the house. Are are they tempering their expectations? Are they cutting the price of of homes that need work?
We we we don't see we don't see price reductions. Um it's it's uh obviously in very early days, but the supply is still the main driving factor in terms of of of of price. So we don't see price reductions, uh David. What we do see and what we welcome is price stabilisations. Um this is this is very important for the market. It it takes that panic out the market. So we we're not seeing price reductions but definitely seeing price stabilisations.
Well, particularly in Dublin, which is really interesting because this latest index shows um Dublin house price growth almost ground to a halt. Prices in Dublin rose by just zero point one percent this quarter.
Are sellers lowering prices for homes that need work, or just seeing price stabilisation?
Three months ago it was zero point eight percent. So that's quite a big um slowdown in in the increase. What's driving that?
Yeah. Well well the slowdown is um again we we we touched on it briefly there in terms of afford affordability ceilings.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why are buyers avoiding fixer‑upper homes as renovation costs soar?
0:01–1:32
2
How is economic uncertainty influencing the shift toward ready‑to‑move‑in properties?
1:32–2:57
3
What impact does this trend have on first‑time buyers and their mortgage deposits?
2:57–4:01
4
Are sellers lowering prices for homes that need work, or just seeing price stabilisation?
4:01–4:58
5
Why has Dublin’s house‑price growth almost halted and what does it mean for the market?
4:58–6:13
6
Is demand moving away from Dublin to regional cities, or are affordability ceilings still a factor?
6:13–7:47
7
What opportunities exist for downsizers and how is limited stock affecting them?
7:47–8:28