Stab Lab City

01

The Lilly effect, mapped

Everyone in Limerick has a theory about what the plant is doing to house prices — and the plant isn't even alone: add the dozen-odd biotechs in and around UL's National Technology Park (on the map, east side). So we tested it properly. We cut the county along its real lines — the Shannon, the Abbey River, the M7 and M20, boundaries traced from the actual road and river geometry — and measured every registered sale twice: once counting only second-hand homes, and once counting everything, new-builds included. Two maps. Same districts, same 12 months. The difference between them is the story.

Map 1 · Resales only — second-hand homes; new-builds and bulk deals excluded

Second-hand median price change, last 12 months vs the prior 12. Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.

On resales alone, the growth gradient runs west to east. Caherdavin's North Circular & Ennis Road: dead flat (+0.3%). Raheen & Dooradoyle, beside the plant: +3.1%. The river-bounded city: +4.5%, and at a €230,000 median still the cheapest way in. Then Castletroy — dearest district in Limerick at €420,000 and the fastest growing (+11.1%), with the university and the Technology Park on its doorstep. And one pocket the register can barely see: Ballyclough, the fancy loop south of the motorway, recorded two sales in two years — both around the million mark. Nobody leaves. Scarcity is its own price signal.

Map 2 · All sales — everything on the register, new-builds included

Same districts, same 12-month windows — but every full-market sale counts, new-builds included.

Put the new-builds in and watch the map change. The west belt lights up — Patrickswell +10.7%, Mungret +5.6% — and Castletroy jumps to +14.1%. This is where the plant's money actually lands: new homes at new prices, whole estates arriving on the register in districts where second-hand homes barely trade. Even Caherdavin turning red is a building story, not a falling market: last year 24 new homes sold there at a €345,000 median — above the district's €328,000 resale level — and this year the scheme is done, so the mix fell back.

Zoom into that west belt — Mungret and Patrickswell, in the plant's shadow — and the two lines tell it plainly: 69 new homes sold so far this year against 13 resales. Mungret's new-build median has climbed from €257,000 in 2020 to over €400,000; Patrickswell's first new estates only reached the register in 2024. County-wide, nearly one in five recent sales is a new-build. Nobody is selling out here — but everybody is building.

Sales registered per calendar year in Mungret + Patrickswell (west of the N18/M20): new-builds (green) vs second-hand resales (slate); 2026 to 28 September. New-build prices are register values (VAT-exclusive).

02

Adare, the Ryder Cup and half a million euro

In 2019, Adare Manor was confirmed as host of the 2027 Ryder Cup — the centenary edition, Ireland's first since 2006. Since then the village's median sold price has climbed from €361,000 to a €550,000 peak in 2025 — the dearest address in the county, by far, with six sales over €1M that year alone. Then the market froze. Sales fell 49 → 30 → 13 and in all of 2026 so far not one home has sold above €900,000. The median dipped, but that's the mix talking: the trophy end didn't get cheaper, it left the market. Exactly what you'd expect if owners are holding out for Ryder Cup rental money.

And the rental side agrees. Two years out, Adare has already vanished from Airbnb for Cup week: search 13–19 September 2027 and you're offered Lahinch and Doolin — over 80km away by road — at up to 2.5× normal rates, while an ordinary 2027 week shows hundreds of homes in the village itself. The stock is booked, held back, or going off-platform. Nobody sells the goose the year it lays.

Median sold price (line, left axis) and registered sales (bars, right axis), calendar years; 2026 to 28 September. Sample sizes 13–49 sales/year — small-village data, treat single years with care. Event: 13–19 September 2027. Airbnb availability checked September 2026.

03

Castletroy: the people's choice

"Most popular suburb" isn't an opinion here — it's arithmetic. Castletroy has topped the county's suburb sales table in four of the last six years, and demand shows up in the price: €240,000 in 2020, €416,000 now — up 73% in six years, the strongest run of any district, and still accelerating (+11.1% on resales this year, +14.1% counting the new estates). University on one side, the Lilly commute on the other.

Median second-hand price by calendar year, Castletroy district (the map's boundaries); 2026 to 28 September. Sales per year shown on each bar.

04

The city itself

The river-bounded core — People's Park to King John's Castle — went from a €145,000 median in 2020 to €230,000 now: up 59% in six years, and it's still rising (+4.5% this year) while across the river Caherdavin's North Circular & Ennis Road sat dead flat. Yet at €230,000 the core remains the cheapest district in Limerick. If you're buying, this is where the value hides.

Median second-hand price by calendar year, city district (the map's boundaries); *2026 to 28 September.

05

Who's buying: a mover's market

The CSO's stamp-duty data splits household buyers by Eircode, and Limerick city (V94) reads like a market trading up within itself: in 2025 just 30% of purchases were first-time buyers against 39% nationally, while 58% were movers — people selling one home to buy a better one — against 51% nationally. That is exactly what a wage-led boom looks like on the ground: the Lilly and Analog money isn't arriving at the bottom of the ladder, it's climbing the middle of it. Non-occupiers — landlords, second addresses — took 12%, a shade over the 10% national rate, paying a €245,000 median.

The county's first-timer doors are outside the city: Newcastle West (40% first-time buyers) and Kilmallock (37%) — the same corridor the commuter chapter said was still affordable. If you're a first-timer priced out of V94, the register says the others went west and south.

Market household purchases, stamp-duty executions, 2025, by Eircode routing key. Company and fund purchases aren't published below county level. Source: CSO (table HPA04).

06

Getting richer at twice Cork's pace

If the money were only in property, you'd suspect a bubble. It isn't. New-car registrations — the classic disposable-income tell — have risen in Limerick four years straight: up 19% since 2022 and back above 4,000 a year for the first time since 2018. Cork, a county three times the size, managed +9.9% over the same years. Limerick is putting new cars on the road at twice Cork's pace — of Ireland's cities, only Dublin (+25.7%) is faster.

Growth in new private cars licensed for the first time, vs 2022, Limerick and Cork licensing authorities. Raw 2025 counts: Limerick 4,016, Cork 13,400, Dublin 45,017 (+25.7%). Source: CSO (table TEA29).

And it's not just consumption — it's formation. The companies register goes further: 891 new companies incorporated at Limerick addresses in 2025, the highest on record and up 22.2% in a single year — faster growth than any city in Ireland. Cork managed +13.3%, Dublin +7.6%. Cars, companies, houses: three independent datasets, one direction.

Company incorporations by calendar year, registered address containing the county name. Fine print for the pedants: a few small-base rural counties (Roscommon, Westmeath) posted higher percentage growth — among cities, Limerick leads outright. Source: CRO open data.

Now

You've seen the data. Now go see the homes.

642 homes for sale in Limerick right now, median asking €280,000. Every link opens the live map.