- For foreign buyers
- Built with local realtors
- Updated this quarter
Here's 99% of what you need to know before buying in Dublin.
The 12 documents we wish we had before buying in Dublin. What each area costs, how long a place sits before it sells, and what the law will let you charge in rent. Plus the things nobody writes down: the repair levy waiting inside some apartment blocks, and why sale agreed means nothing here.
The 12 documents to make a good real estate investment in Dublin in 2026
Every sale price since 2010 is public here and almost nobody arriving from abroad knows it, the rent you may charge is tied to what the last tenant paid, and a block built in the boom years can carry a repair bill nobody has voted yet. These documents show you what is actually earned and paid. They are put together with agents, solicitors and owners we work with in the city.
Questions
Do you list your sources?
Yes, on every table. The backbone is the public register of sale prices, which records what every property in the country actually sold for since 2010, and we add published stamp duty and legal rates, listing histories we track ourselves, management company accounts shared with us by owners, and what the agents we work with in each area are seeing week to week. Anything that is an estimate rather than a recorded number is labelled as one.
Can a foreigner actually buy property here?
Yes, freely, whichever passport you hold and whether or not you live in Ireland. There is no permit and no restriction. Where it gets complicated is afterwards, because a landlord living abroad is taxed differently and part of the rent is withheld at source.
What does sale agreed actually mean?
Very little. Nothing binds either side until contracts are signed, which is often weeks later, and a higher bid can still arrive in the meantime. You may have paid for a survey and a solicitor by then. How people protect a deal in that gap is document 07.
Can I find out what the other bids were?
Yes, and hardly anyone does. Agents are required to keep a record of every bid received on a property, and a bidder is entitled to ask for it. Knowing that changes how the last few rounds of a bidding war go. Document 03 covers how to ask and what you can expect to be shown.
What is this about defective apartment blocks?
A large number of blocks built during the boom years have fire safety or water ingress problems that were only found later, and putting them right is charged to the owners. There is a state scheme, and it does not cover everything. What to check before you buy in one is in documents 04 and 08.
Why can I not just charge market rent?
Because the cap on increases attaches to the property rather than to the tenancy. If the last tenant was paying well under the market, that is roughly where you start too, whatever the listing implied. Where that bites hardest is what document 12 measures.
How long are the documents?
One to four pages each. They are tables and checklists rather than reports, so any one of them takes about ten minutes to read.
Which areas do you cover?
Eighteen areas: the city centre, the Docklands, Portobello, Ranelagh, Rathmines, Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Sandymount, Clontarf, Drumcondra, Phibsborough, Stoneybatter, Smithfield, Crumlin, Dundrum, Blackrock, Dún Laoghaire and Malahide. If you need somewhere or a specific development that is not in there, write to us and we will put it together for you at no extra cost.
I have a question about my own situation.
Ask us. If the answer is in the research we already have, we will send it. If it needs a call to someone in that area or a look at a specific development, we will do that too and come back to you, at no extra cost.
Is $99 a lot for a set of documents?
You are about to spend several hundred thousand euros in a market with almost no stock and very fast decisions. A levy voted after you buy, a rent you are not allowed to raise, a bidding war you misread: there are plenty of ways this gets expensive.
What format are they in, and when do I get them?
PDF, so you can read them on your phone, tablet or computer. The download link appears on screen straight after payment and a copy arrives by email.
How often are they updated?
Every quarter. Our contacts in Dublin re-check the numbers before each release, so the version you download today is the one updated this quarter.
I have another question.
Ask us on the contact page and we will get back to you.
Three packs
The first pack has 4 documents, the second has 6, and the third has all 12 of our Dublin research.
All the data and information in these documents was checked this year with agents, solicitors and owners working in Dublin.