Property & Planning

Week of 2026-W38

Irish Property Market Intelligence | Business Post

Irish Property Market Intelligence

Weekly Transactions & Planning Report | 14–20 September 2026

Source: PROPERTY | Period: 2026-09-14 to 2026-09-20

Monthly | Property Market Intelligence | August 2026 Transactions & September 2026 Planning

Dublin's €30M Stoneybatter Deal Anchors a Cooling August Market as Rural Planning Surges

The Property Price Register's most recently available data — transactions registered in August 2026 — reveals a market in seasonal retreat but structurally sound: 3 transactions nationally at a national median of €365,000, down from 2,953 in July but with Dublin's median holding firm at €461,241. The headline number is a single €30 million transaction at Stoneybatter Place (D07NP2K) — almost certainly a bulk residential acquisition at the Rope Walk development — that sits 65 times above the national median and signals continued institutional appetite for Dublin's inner-city stock. Meanwhile, planning data for the first two weeks of September 2026 shows 0 applications received, dominated by rural single-dwelling permissions across Cavan, Donegal and Galway — a pattern that speaks to persistent demand for one-off rural housing even as urban supply struggles to keep pace.

Transactions Registered (Aug 2026)

€365,000

National Median Price (Aug 2026)

€461,241

Dublin Median Price (Aug 2026)

Planning Applications (Sep 1–13)

€30M

Largest Single Transaction (Stoneybatter)

By the Numbers

Metric	Value	Signal
National transactions registered (Aug 2026)	2,110	Down 28.5% vs Jul
National median price (Aug 2026)	€365,000	Up 1.1% vs Jul €361,136
National average price (Aug 2026)	€425,603	Down 7.6% vs Jul €460,489
Dublin transactions (Aug 2026)	685	Down 27.4% vs Jul 944
Dublin median price (Aug 2026)	€461,241	Flat vs Jul €463,042
Waterford avg price (Aug 2026)	€348,836	Up 39.1% vs Jul €250,737
Planning applications received (Sep 1–13)	182	Rural-dominated
Residential units in planning pipeline (Sep)	68	Low volume

  Business Post AI Pick: The August Seasonal Dip Is Real — But Prices Are Holding
  The 28.5% drop in transaction volume from July to August is a recurring seasonal pattern as the market pauses over the summer holiday period. What matters more is that the national median price actually edged up 1.1% to €365,000 — suggesting that while fewer deals are closing, the deals that do close are not discounted. Dublin's median of €461,241 is essentially unchanged from July's €463,042. The market is cooling in volume, not in price.

Pattern of the Month: Waterford's Dramatic Average Price Surge Waterford's average transaction price jumped 39.1% from €250,737 in July to €348,836 in August — the most dramatic county-level shift in the period. This is not a structural price increase but a composition effect: a single €2.45 million transaction at 8 Moyne House, Grattan Quay, Waterford City (X91DE98) pulled the average sharply upward. It is a reminder that in lower-volume counties, one premium transaction can move the needle significantly.

The Investigation: Who Is Buying, What Is Being Built, and Where

A deeper look at the August 2026 transaction data reveals a market with two distinct stories running in parallel. The first is the premium residential market — concentrated in Dublin's southside and inner city — where a cluster of transactions above €2 million signals continued wealth concentration and institutional activity. The second is the broader national market, where the median of €365,000 reflects a more constrained buyer pool navigating elevated mortgage rates and limited supply. The planning pipeline for early September adds a third dimension: a rural housing system still processing individual one-off applications at scale, with urban large-scale development conspicuously absent from the early-September docket.

County Price Tracker: August 2026 vs July 2026

Dublin and Cork both saw significant volume declines in August — a seasonal pattern — but the price story diverges sharply by county. Waterford's average surged on the back of a single premium quayside transaction, while Limerick and Galway held broadly steady. Kildare's volume halved from 196 to 108 transactions, suggesting the commuter belt market is more sensitive to seasonal slowdowns than the capital.

County	Median Aug	Avg Jul	Change (Avg)	Txns Aug	Txns Jul	Volume Change
Dublin	€461,241	€725,402	Avg -15.7%	685	944	-27.4%
Cork	n/a	€361,577	Avg +1.5%	235	362	-35.1%
Kildare	n/a	€450,367	Avg +5.1%	108	196	-44.9%
Waterford	n/a	€348,836	Avg +39.1%	68	64	+6.3%
Galway	n/a	€390,928	Avg +11.0%	106	114	-7.0%
Limerick	n/a	€305,579	Avg -1.9%	59	93	-36.6%

Stress Signal: Kildare's Volume Collapse Warrants Watching Kildare saw the sharpest volume decline of any major county — down 44.9% from 196 to 108 transactions between July and August. The commuter belt has historically been a bellwether for first-time buyer activity, and a near-halving of transaction volume in a single month — even accounting for seasonality — suggests that affordability pressure and mortgage rate sensitivity are biting hardest in the €400,000–€500,000 price band where Kildare is concentrated. Watch for whether September and October data shows a recovery or a sustained slowdown.

Top Transactions Registered in August 2026

The ten largest transactions registered in August 2026 are dominated by Dublin southside residential properties and one standout bulk purchase. The €30 million Stoneybatter transaction — registered without a property size descriptor, consistent with a multi-unit bulk purchase — dwarfs every other deal in the period. Four transactions in the D06 postcode area (Ranelagh, Leeson Park, Palmerston Park) confirm that Dublin 6 remains the most consistently active premium residential micro-market in the country.

Address	County	Price	Type	Notes
Stoneybatter Place, Rope Walk 20, D07NP2K	Dublin	€30,004,844	Residential	Bulk purchase
4 Temple Gardens, Dublin 6, D06R8P0	Dublin	€4,350,000	Residential	D6 premium
6 Palmerston Park, Dublin 6, D06FX78	Dublin	€3,450,000	Residential	D6 premium
Athassel, 35 Silchester Rd, Glenageary, A96D2Y2	Dublin	€3,450,000	Residential	Southside
10 Winton Rd, Leeson Park, Dublin 6, D06RK68	Dublin	€3,220,000	Residential	D6 premium
1-8 Spancel Rise, Fairfield Rd, Blackpool, Cork	Cork	€3,136,662	Residential	VAT excl. new build
Liffey Business Campus, Leixlip, Kildare	Kildare	€3,010,427	Commercial	Tech corridor
Dubhán, 10D Green Park, Dublin 14	Dublin	€2,907,489	Residential	VAT excl. new build
77 Wellington Rd, Dublin 4, D04Y8C1	Dublin	€2,800,000	Residential	D4 premium
8 Moyne House, Grattan Quay, Waterford, X91DE98	Waterford	€2,448,356	Residential	Quayside outlier

Standout: The Leixlip Commercial Sale Signals Tech Corridor Confidence The €3.01 million sale of premises at Liffey Business Campus, Leixlip is the only commercial transaction in the top ten — and its location is significant. Leixlip sits at the heart of Ireland's semiconductor and pharmaceutical corridor, adjacent to Intel's Fab 34 campus and within the orbit of multiple multinational operations. A €3M commercial sale here, registered in August 2026, suggests continued confidence in the east Kildare commercial property market even as residential volumes in the county declined sharply.

Planning Pipeline: September 2026 Applications

The 0 planning applications received in the first 13 days of September 2026 tell a story of a planning system still dominated by rural one-off housing. Of 68 total residential units in the pipeline, the largest single application — five houses at Clonlea, Kilkishen, Co Clare — is a retention and completion of a partially-built scheme. The absence of large-scale urban residential applications in this early-September snapshot is notable, though the planning system's processing timelines mean that major urban schemes typically appear in later batches.

Application	Authority	Description	Units	Status
26244	Clare County Council	Retain/complete houses 1-5, Clonlea, Kilkishen	5	New Application
2660814	Wicklow County Council	2 dormer semi-detached houses, Kindlestown Lower, Delgany	2	New Application
2661009	Kildare County Council	Family cluster: 3 houses, Rathmore West, Naas	2	New Application
2661531	Galway County Council	Renovation derelict cottage, Ervallagh, Roundstone (Natura Impact)	1	Pre-Validation
2660512	Cavan County Council	Convert vacant building to dwelling, Chapel Lane, Cootehill	1	New Application

View All 3 Transactions →

View Planning Applications →

The Connections: What the Transaction Data Alone Cannot Tell You

Property transactions and planning applications are data points. The story emerges when you connect them to the broader economic context — the tax environment shaping investor behaviour, the legal framework constraining development, the geographic patterns revealing where Ireland is building and where it is not. This month, three themes stand out: the institutional appetite for Dublin inner-city bulk residential; the persistent rural-urban planning imbalance; and the approaching Budget 2027 which will directly reshape the economics of property investment and development.

  Institutional Dublin: The €30M Stoneybatter Signal
  The €30,004,844 transaction at Stoneybatter Place, Rope Walk 20, D07NP2K is the defining data point of August 2026. At 65 times the national median and 8 times the Dublin median, this is not a private residential purchase — it is an institutional acquisition, almost certainly a build-to-rent or social housing bulk buy at the Rope Walk development in Stoneybatter, one of Dublin's most rapidly gentrifying inner-city neighbourhoods. The D07 postcode has seen sustained investment in apartment development over the past decade, and a €30M transaction in August 2026 confirms that institutional capital is still flowing into the Dublin residential market despite elevated interest rates. The question for the coming months: is this a one-off or the first of a series of bulk completions registering through the system?

Dublin 6's Enduring Premium: Four Transactions Above €2.6M in One Month The D06 postcode — encompassing Ranelagh, Rathmines, Leeson Park, and Palmerston Park — produced four transactions above €2.6 million in August 2026 alone: 4 Temple Gardens at €4.35M, 6 Palmerston Park at €3.45M, 10 Winton Road at €3.22M, and 16 Dartmouth Square West at €2.6M. This cluster of premium transactions in a single postcode in a single month is not coincidental — it reflects the structural scarcity of large Victorian and Edwardian houses in Dublin's most sought-after residential belt. With supply constrained and demand from high-net-worth buyers persistent, D06 is functioning as a separate micro-market with its own price dynamics, largely insulated from the affordability pressures affecting the broader market.

Budget 2027 and the Property Investment Equation: The CGT Dimension The Business Post reported on 19 September 2026 that Enterprise Minister Peter Burke is seeking to expand entrepreneur tax relief in Budget 2027, reducing capital gains tax from 33% to 10% on qualifying business disposals. While framed as an enterprise measure, the implications for property investment are direct: developers and investors who structure their activities through qualifying companies could see their exit tax burden cut by two-thirds. With the August data showing continued high-value transactions — including multiple new-build VAT-exclusive sales at Green Park (D14) and Spancel Rise (Cork) — the tax treatment of development profits is a live issue. A CGT reduction of this magnitude, if extended to property development structures, would materially improve the economics of new residential supply. Watch for the Budget 2027 announcement on 14 October 2026 for the precise scope of the relief.

The Rural Planning Paradox: 182 Applications, 68 Units The first 13 days of September 2026 produced 0 planning applications nationally — but only 68 residential units across all of them. The mismatch is stark: the planning system is processing hundreds of individual applications for single dwellings, extensions, and retentions, while the large-scale urban residential schemes that would meaningfully address the housing shortage are largely absent from this early-September snapshot. Cavan (22 applications), Donegal (20), and Galway (20) lead the authority rankings — all predominantly rural counties. This is not a criticism of rural planning; it reflects genuine demand for rural housing. But it underscores the structural challenge: Ireland's planning system is optimised for processing individual rural applications, not for fast-tracking the urban density that the housing crisis demands.

  Cork's New-Build Activity: Spancel Rise and the VAT-Exclusive Signal
  The €3.14 million VAT-exclusive transaction at 1-8 Spancel Rise, Fairfield Road, Blackpool, Cork is one of two VAT-exclusive residential transactions in the August top ten — the other being Dubhán at 10D Green Park, Dublin 14 at €2.91M. VAT-exclusive pricing on the Property Price Register indicates a new-build transaction where VAT was charged separately — a marker of developer activity. Eight units at Spancel Rise in Blackpool (Cork's northside) at a combined €3.14M implies a per-unit price of approximately €392,000 before VAT, consistent with the Cork new-build market. This is developer-to-investor or developer-to-owner-occupier activity, and it confirms that Cork's residential construction pipeline is delivering into the market.

The Radar: Three Signals Worth Watching

Signal 1: Waterford's Quayside Premium — A One-Off or a Trend? The €2.45 million transaction at 8 Moyne House, Grattan Quay, Waterford City (X91DE98) is 7x above Waterford's August average of €348,836. Waterford's quayside has been the subject of sustained regeneration investment, and a transaction of this scale — in a county where the typical deal is under €350,000 — suggests that premium waterfront residential product is finding buyers at prices previously unseen in the south-east. Watch for: whether the Waterford quayside produces further premium transactions in Q4 2026, which would signal a structural shift rather than a one-off outlier.

Signal 2: The Derelict Cottage Renovation Wave in Rural Connacht Among the September planning applications, the Galway County Council application for renovation of a derelict cottage at Ervallagh, Roundstone — complete with a Natura Impact Statement for its proximity to protected habitats — represents a growing category: the conversion of derelict rural stock into habitable dwellings. With Ireland's derelict site register running into tens of thousands of properties, and government incentives for vacancy and dereliction increasingly active, the planning system is beginning to process this pipeline. Watch for: an acceleration of similar applications in Q4 2026 as the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant scheme matures.

Signal 3: The Absence of Large Urban Schemes in Early September Planning The largest residential planning application in the first 13 days of September 2026 was five houses in rural Clare. No large-scale urban apartment or housing schemes appeared in this early-September batch. This could reflect timing — major urban applications often cluster around local authority submission deadlines — but it is worth monitoring. The planning pipeline for Q4 2026 will be a key indicator of whether the urban residential supply pipeline is recovering after the slowdown in large-scale SHD (Strategic Housing Development) applications that followed the transition to the new planning regime. Watch for: large-scale applications from Dublin City Council, Cork City Council, and South Dublin County Council in October and November 2026.

The Deep Dive: Two Stories That Deserve a Closer Look

Two transactions from August 2026 warrant deeper investigation: the €30 million Stoneybatter bulk purchase — the largest single residential transaction in the period and a window into institutional property investment in Dublin's inner city — and the Liffey Business Campus commercial sale in Leixlip, which tells a different story about Ireland's tech-corridor commercial property market. Together, they illustrate the two-speed nature of the Irish property market: high-value institutional and commercial activity at one end, and a constrained residential market for ordinary buyers at the other.

Stoneybatter Place, D07 — Ireland's Largest August Transaction and What It Tells Us About Institutional Residential Investment

The €30,004,844 transaction registered on 5 August 2026 at Stoneybatter Place, Rope Walk 20, Dublin 7 (D07NP2K) is the single largest residential transaction registered in August 2026 — and one of the largest in the Property Price Register's recent history. The address — Rope Walk, Stoneybatter — corresponds to a significant apartment development in one of Dublin's most transformed inner-city neighbourhoods. The absence of a property size descriptor on the register, combined with the scale of the transaction, is consistent with a bulk purchase of multiple residential units by an institutional buyer, whether a real estate investment trust, a local authority, or a housing association.

Metric	Value	Context
Transaction price	€30,004,844	65x national median (€365,000)
vs Dublin median (Aug 2026)	€461,241	Transaction is 65x Dublin median
Registration date	5 Aug 2026	Property Price Register lag: 4-6 weeks
Property type	Residential	No size descriptor — consistent with bulk
VAT status	Not VAT-exclusive	Second-hand or social housing transfer
Eircode	D07NP2K	Stoneybatter/Smithfield area, Dublin 7
Dublin 7 avg price (Aug 2026)	~€461,000	Transaction is 65x area average

  Reading Between the Lines: Institutional Capital Is Still Flowing Into Dublin's Inner City
  The Stoneybatter transaction is not a private residential purchase — no individual buyer pays €30 million for a single property. This is institutional capital at work: a bulk acquisition of apartment units at the Rope Walk development, a scheme that has been part of Dublin 7's regeneration story. The fact that the transaction is not VAT-exclusive suggests it may be a second-hand transfer — possibly from a developer to a REIT, a local authority, or a housing association under a Part V or turnkey arrangement. Whatever the buyer, the scale of the transaction confirms that Dublin's inner-city residential market continues to attract large-scale capital even in a period of elevated interest rates. The so what? Ireland's housing crisis is partly a story of institutional capital competing with individual buyers for the same stock — and a €30M bulk purchase in Stoneybatter is a vivid illustration of that dynamic.

The question for Q4 2026: will the Rope Walk transaction prove to be a one-off bulk completion, or will it be followed by further large-scale institutional acquisitions as the Dublin apartment pipeline delivers? The answer will depend partly on the interest rate environment and partly on the outcome of Budget 2027's treatment of institutional property investment.

Liffey Business Campus, Leixlip — The €3M Commercial Sale in Ireland's Tech Heartland

The €3,010,427 commercial transaction at Liffey Business Campus, Leixlip, Co Kildare, registered on 7 August 2026, is the only commercial property transaction in the August top ten — and its location is as significant as its price. Leixlip sits at the centre of Ireland's semiconductor and technology manufacturing corridor, home to Intel's Fab 34 campus (a €17 billion investment), and within the orbit of multiple pharmaceutical and technology operations in east Kildare and west Dublin.

Metric	Value	Context
Transaction price	€3,010,427	Only commercial transaction in Aug top 10
Property type	Commercial	Business campus premises
Location	Leixlip, Co Kildare	Adjacent to Intel Fab 34 corridor
Registration date	7 Aug 2026	Property Price Register lag: 4-6 weeks
Kildare residential avg (Aug 2026)	€450,367	Commercial premium vs residential
Kildare volume change (Jul-Aug)	-44.9%	Residential market cooling; commercial active

Why It Matters: Commercial Confidence in the Tech Corridor While Kildare's residential market saw its sharpest volume decline of any major county in August 2026 (down 44.9%), the commercial market at Liffey Business Campus tells a different story. A €3M commercial sale in Leixlip — in the same month that residential volumes halved — suggests that commercial property demand in the tech corridor is following a different cycle to the residential market. Intel's continued investment in Fab 34, combined with the broader cluster of multinational operations in east Kildare, is sustaining commercial property values even as the residential market pauses. This divergence between commercial and residential property cycles in the same geography is a structural feature of Ireland's tech-dependent regional economies.

The question for 2027: as Intel's Fab 34 ramps up production and the east Kildare tech cluster matures, will commercial property demand translate into residential price pressure in Leixlip and the surrounding area? The answer will depend on whether the planning system can deliver the residential supply that a growing tech workforce requires.

Key People This Period

Name	Role	Notable Activity	Connections
Peter Burke	Enterprise Minister	Pushing CGT reduction from 33% to 10% in Budget 2027 — directly affects property developer exit economics	Budget 2027 article
Simon Harris	Tánaiste & Finance Minister	EU banking integration push; comprehensive enterprise tax review for Budget 2028 — shapes mortgage market and investment environment	EU small business article
Institutional Buyer (unnamed)	Property Investor	€30M bulk residential acquisition at Stoneybatter Place, D07NP2K — largest single transaction in Aug 2026	Stoneybatter Place transaction
Developer (unnamed)	Residential Developer	Delivered 8 units at Spancel Rise, Blackpool, Cork — €3.14M VAT-exclusive new-build sale	Spancel Rise transaction
Developer (unnamed)	Residential Developer	Delivered Green Park development, Dublin 14 — two VAT-exclusive transactions totalling €5.35M (Dubhán €2.91M + Cromlech €2.44M)	Green Park D14 transaction

One to Watch: Waterford City's Quayside Premium Market

Waterford Quayside Residential Market

County: Waterford | Eircode area: X91 | Transaction: X91DE98 | Type: Residential premium

Metric	Aug 2026	Jul 2026	Change
County avg price	€348,836	€250,737	+39.1%
County transactions	68	64	+6.3%
Premium transaction	€2,448,356	n/a	7x county avg
Premium vs national median	6.7x	n/a	Outlier

What they represent: The €2.45 million transaction at 8 Moyne House, Grattan Quay, Waterford City (X91DE98) represents a category of property that barely existed in Waterford a decade ago: premium waterfront residential product priced at multiples of the county average. Moyne House on Grattan Quay is part of Waterford's quayside regeneration, a sustained effort to transform the city's historic waterfront into a premium residential and commercial destination.

Why it matters: Waterford is Ireland's oldest city and has historically been undervalued relative to its size and heritage. The emergence of a premium residential tier — with transactions above €2M — signals that the city's regeneration investment is beginning to translate into price discovery at the top end of the market. If the quayside continues to attract premium buyers, it could catalyse a broader revaluation of Waterford's residential market and attract further development investment. The number that matters: €2,448,356 — 7x the county average, and a price point that would not have been achievable in Waterford five years ago.

The number that matters: €2,448,356 — 7x Waterford's August average of €348,836. Watch for: whether further premium transactions appear on Grattan Quay or the broader Waterford quayside in Q4 2026, which would confirm a structural shift rather than a one-off outlier.

The Broader Picture: Courts, Companies, and the Week Ahead

The Irish Courts: Planning Law in the Spotlight

No new judgments were delivered in the August–September 2026 period covered by this report — the courts database shows no entries for this window. However, the body of recent planning law jurisprudence continues to shape the development landscape in ways that every property professional should understand. Three cases from the recent record are particularly relevant to the current market context.

Citation	Parties	Subject	Why It Matters
[2025] IEHC 659	Reilly & Ors v An Coimisiún Pleanála	31 residential units, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin	Developers Lark Finance Ltd and SM Blackhorse Ltd — planning authority applied wrong development plan. Highlights transition risks in new planning regime.
[2024] IEHC 86	Mulloy v An Bord Pleanála & Ors	Dublin transport planning and NTA strategic functions	Clarifies NTA's role in planning process — relevant to large-scale Dublin residential schemes near transport corridors.
[2022] IEHC 83	Flannery & Ors v An Bord Pleanála	Residential development on Z9 zoned (open space) lands, Dublin	Board's consideration of developer's financial situation deemed irrelevant and improper. Reinforces that planning decisions must be made on planning grounds alone.

Legal Risk: The Planning Regime Transition Is Creating Uncertainty The 2025 High Court judgment in Reilly v An Coimisiún Pleanála — involving a 31-unit residential development at Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin — illustrates a systemic risk in the current planning environment. The planning authority applied the wrong development plan to the application, a procedural error that led to judicial review. As Ireland transitions from the old An Bord Pleanála system to the new An Coimisiún Pleanála framework, the risk of procedural errors and legal challenges is elevated. Developers with applications in the pipeline should ensure their legal teams are monitoring the transition carefully.

Property Markets & Plans: The Commercial Sector and the Planning Pipeline

Beyond the residential market, August 2026 produced one significant commercial transaction — the €3M Liffey Business Campus sale in Leixlip — and the early September planning data shows a pipeline dominated by rural residential applications. The commercial property market, while not the focus of this report, is signalling continued activity in Ireland's technology and pharmaceutical corridors, consistent with the broader pattern of multinational investment in Irish infrastructure.

Property / Application	Location	Value / Type	Significance
Liffey Business Campus	Leixlip, Kildare	€3,010,427 commercial	Tech corridor commercial confidence; adjacent to Intel Fab 34
Planning: Clonlea, Kilkishen	Co Clare	5 residential units (retention)	Largest residential planning application in early Sep 2026
Planning: Kindlestown Lower, Delgany	Co Wicklow	2 semi-detached houses (305sqm)	Wicklow commuter belt new-build activity
Planning: Rathmore West, Naas	Co Kildare	Family cluster: 3 houses	Rural family cluster planning — growing application type
Planning: Ervallagh, Roundstone	Co Galway	Derelict cottage renovation (Natura Impact)	Derelict stock conversion with environmental complexity

Construction Watch: The Derelict Cottage Pipeline Is Opening Up The Galway County Council application for renovation of a derelict cottage at Ervallagh, Roundstone — requiring a Natura Impact Statement due to proximity to protected habitats — represents a growing and underreported category of housing supply. Ireland has an estimated 90,000+ vacant and derelict properties on local authority registers. Government incentives including the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant (up to €50,000 for primary residences) are beginning to unlock this pipeline. The planning complexity of some of these properties — particularly those near Natura 2000 sites — means the system is processing them slowly, but the direction of travel is clear. Watch for an acceleration of derelict renovation applications in Q4 2026 as grant recipients move to planning stage.

The Week Ahead: What to Watch in Q4 2026

The Irish property market enters Q4 2026 with a clear set of known unknowns. The August transaction data confirms that prices are holding — the national median of €365,000 is essentially flat year-on-year — but volume is under pressure from elevated mortgage rates and constrained supply. The planning pipeline is dominated by rural applications, with large-scale urban schemes largely absent from the early-September docket. And Budget 2027, due on 14 October 2026, will set the tax framework for property investment and development for the next 12 months. Three things to watch in the coming weeks.

  The Bottom Line: A Market Holding Its Breath Before Budget Day
  The August 2026 property data tells the story of a market in controlled pause. Prices are holding — the national median is up 1.1% month-on-month — but volume is down 28.5% from July, and the planning pipeline is thin on large-scale urban supply. The €30M Stoneybatter transaction confirms that institutional capital is still active, but the broader market is waiting for clarity on interest rates, CGT treatment, and planning reform before committing at scale. Budget 2027 on 14 October is the single most important near-term event for the Irish property market — and the outcome of Peter Burke's CGT relief push will be closely watched by developers, investors, and housing advocates alike.

What to Watch:

Budget 2027 (14 October 2026): Will CGT on qualifying business disposals be cut from 33% to 10%? If so, what structures qualify? The answer will reshape the economics of property development and investment for the next cycle.
September and October transaction data: Will the August volume dip prove seasonal, or is it the start of a sustained slowdown? The September register (available in October) will be the first real test.
Large-scale urban planning applications: The absence of major urban residential schemes in early September is notable. Watch for Dublin City Council, Cork City Council, and South Dublin County Council application batches in October and November for signals on the urban supply pipeline.