Cheapest Galway areas to buy a house as average prices increase yet again

The average price of a semi-detached, three bed in Galway city is €424,000 - a six percent increase compared to €390,000 this time last year - and an average of €317,000 around the county according to a new Daft.ie report.

Galway is just €20,000 below the national average which has also risen by three percent compared to 12 months ago.

Ballinasloe comes out on top for being home to the most affordable houses at €240,000 but has also increased as has Athenry €408,000; Loughrea €336,000 and Tuam €300,000 with Clifden remaining similar enough to last year at €295,000.

At the end of quarter one this year, it was revealed that one in five house sales across County Galway were a result of landlords pulling out of the rental market.

The national housing market survey revealed that, over the first three months of 2026, 60% of purchasers in the city and 70% across County Galway were first-time buyers.

But a total of 20% of sales in the county, and 15% in Galway city, were attributed to landlords leaving the market. That has increased fears of a surge to a record number of evictions – higher than the 20,000 across Ireland last year.

The expansion of rental pressure zones under the new rental legislation is being blamed for the surge in tenants being issued with termination notices and their properties going on the market.

Before this, RPZs had only applied to high-population areas like Dublin, Cork and Galway cities.

Ronan Lyons, author of the Daft.ie report says: "The clearest message from the third quarter is that house price inflation is easing – visible in both list prices and transaction prices."

"A year ago, the typical home ultimately sold for 6.8% more than the initial list price. Now, with list prices rising faster than sale prices, that ‘market heat’ measure has fallen to 2.6%.”

“Ideally, price pressures would ease because second-hand supply has finally recovered after collapsing during covid. However, for second-hand homes at least, the figures say otherwise: the flow of homes coming onto the market has been flat for three years."

"What has changed is how quickly those homes sell. Outside Dublin, at least some demand has switched to new homes but in Dublin, sales of both new and second-hand homes fell. That is the clearest sign of genuinely softer demand, and a signal to watch in the coming quarters.”