7 ways to get the highest price on your property in a market where prices are stalling

It’s been an interesting few months for property. After several years of galloping prices, last year saw the market hiccup and many house sales stall or drop their prices.

These price drops are greatest at the higher end of the market with the asking price for the luxury estate of Liss Ard in Co Cork, for example, falling from €7.5m to €5m last month. In Dublin 6, a property at Dartry Park that went to market in September 2018, reduced its asking price last month from €1,895,000 to €1,750,000 – a drop of 7.5pc.

“If you take the luxury end of the market in south county Dublin,” says Owen Reilly of estate agents Owen Reilly, “there are quite simply too many houses for sale at the moment, targeting a very small number of buyers, and that is why things have pulled back a little bit.”

The volume of transactions is up – at 44,449 – an increase of 10pc year-on-year to December 2018. Still, nationally, house prices are rising even if the rate of increase is no longer in double figures (according to CSO figures for December 2018, by 6.5pc over the previous 12 months).

So in a market where prices are unsteady, and where there is the ‘known unknown’ of Brexit, how can vendors ensure they get the highest price? We asked some experts for their advice.