Rise of 50% of Irish people now earning more than €100k

There has been a 50% increase in those earning more than €100,000 wages.

This estimation, released by Revenue, has in turn seen a certain recovery in the property market.

Revenue estimates there has been a 50% rise since 2022 in the number of taxpayers (single or jointly assessed couples) with incomes exceeding €100,000. About 357,000 people now earn more than €100k, singly or jointly.

This surge in the number of high earners meant that they could afford to keep-up with the rising prices of houses, which is also boosted by the shortage of supply nationally.

"Ireland’s buoyant labour market has meant that high interest rates have not had a negative impact on property prices," confirmed author of the latest report Conall MacCoille, chief economist at Bank of Ireland.

"If asking prices were under pressure at the start of the year as the market adapted to a new interest rate environment, the picture at year end was very different."

According to the latest quarterly house price report from MyHome.ie, in association with Bank of Ireland, the annual asking price inflation was 4.1% nationwide, 4% in Dublin and 3.9% outside of Dublin.

Asking prices for houses nationally was €325,000 between October, November and December 2023, typically. Houses are now reportedly selling for 4% above their asking prices, according to December figures.

Rising property prices and higher ­incomes meant the average mortgage approval amount in October 2023 was €297,000. This was up 6.1% on the year.

Saying that supply shortage is now a "very real issue", Joanne Geary, managing director of MyHome.ie, said housing numbers are now "historically low".

"Pre-Covid, there were about 20,000 homes listed on MyHome.ie.  But at the end of Q4 the number of listings was down to just 11,400. 

"More needs to be done to unlock supply as it will be real crisis issue for the market as we look to 2024 and beyond," she concluded.