Leitrim has emerged as one of Ireland’s most affordable places to buy a first home, according to new research that compares property prices with local incomes and the time needed to build a deposit.
The county ranked second nationally for joint first-time buyers, behind Longford, in Switcher.ie’s 2026 First Time Buyer Affordability Index.
The study estimates that a typical couple buying in Leitrim would need around €245,000 for a home and could save the required deposit in approximately two years and four months.
Longford took the top position, while Donegal, Roscommon and Mayo completed the five most affordable locations for joint buyers.
The ranking is not based simply on where homes are cheapest. Switcher says its assessment also takes account of local earnings, mortgage lending limits, household savings and the deposit required to complete a purchase.
Leitrim also performs strongly for buyers on their own
Leitrim’s position remains strong when the research looks at people buying without a second income.
The county ranked second among the most affordable locations for sole purchasers, with a median property price of €170,000 and median income of €41,162 used in the study.
Switcher estimates that a sole buyer in Leitrim would need about four years and four months to save the deposit under its methodology.
Only Roscommon ranked ahead of Leitrim in this category. Longford, Donegal and Cavan followed.
The figures highlight a significant difference between rural counties and some of Ireland’s most expensive urban and commuter markets.
A sole purchaser in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, for example, faces a vastly different affordability calculation. Switcher’s research estimates that saving for a property there could take more than 66 years under its assumptions.
Property prices are only part of the affordability equation
Leitrim’s ranking illustrates why looking at house prices alone can give an incomplete picture of affordability.
Switcher combines property values with income and savings to estimate how long buyers could need to accumulate the funds required to purchase.
For joint buyers in Leitrim, the study uses a property price of €245,000 and a median joint income of €81,926. Its calculation produces an estimated deposit-saving period of two years and four months.
The research assumes that first-time buyers need at least a 10% deposit and applies the Central Bank’s loan-to-income rules when calculating how much buyers could borrow.
It also uses a household savings rate to estimate how quickly the remaining funds could be accumulated.
That methodology is important because a county with cheap homes is not automatically affordable if local incomes are also low.
Leitrim performs well because its relatively low property prices are combined with incomes that make the deposit and borrowing calculations more manageable than in many higher-priced parts of the country.
The national affordability gap remains wide
The contrast with Dublin and other expensive areas is stark.
Switcher estimates that the average sole buyer considered in its study has a median income of €44,816, while the average median sole-purchase price across the locations examined was €295,000.
Even in the more affordable counties, however, buyers still face the challenge of raising a deposit while meeting mortgage lending requirements.
At the other end of the scale, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was identified as the least affordable location for both sole and joint buyers.
For joint purchasers, the study puts the median property price at €595,340 and estimates a deposit-saving period of 21 years and three months.
For someone buying alone, the corresponding property price is €548,000, with an estimated saving period of 66 years and five months.
The figures underline how strongly location affects the prospects of getting onto the property ladder.
Leitrim’s affordability comes with a supply question
There is another side to Leitrim’s position in the rankings.
Being relatively affordable does not necessarily mean there is a large supply of homes available to first-time buyers.
Switcher found that only a small share of Ireland’s new housing construction took place in counties such as Leitrim during 2025. Its analysis says the majority of new homes were concentrated in the more expensive areas around Dublin and other larger population centres.
That creates a potential mismatch.
The counties where homes are cheaper can offer first-time buyers a more manageable route into ownership, but fewer new homes are being delivered in some of those areas.
This is particularly relevant because several major first-time buyer supports are linked to new-build properties.
Switcher notes that schemes such as Help to Buy and the First Home Scheme generally support purchases of qualifying new homes, which can limit the usefulness of those measures for buyers in areas where new-build supply is relatively low.
Longford leads, but the northwest remains prominent
The 2026 rankings place several counties in the northwest and west among Ireland’s more accessible markets for first-time buyers.
Longford ranks first for joint purchasers, followed by Leitrim, Donegal, Roscommon and Mayo.
For sole purchasers, Roscommon takes first place, followed by Leitrim, Longford, Donegal and Cavan.
The pattern is notable because the most affordable markets are largely outside the country’s most expensive urban and commuter areas.
But affordability is only one consideration for someone deciding where to buy.
Employment opportunities, transport, schools, healthcare and access to services can all influence whether a lower-priced property represents a realistic option for a household.
The affordability picture is changing
The Switcher research comes at a time when affordability has become one of the central issues in Ireland’s housing market.
Recent research from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland found that 92% of estate agents surveyed considered current residential property prices expensive or very expensive. The organisation also reported that most agents expected prices to continue rising over the following year, although at a more moderate pace.
Separate research published at the end of August found that a single first-time buyer earning the national median salary of €44,816 would fall short of the income needed to buy a typical first home in every county.
The research, from Chill Insurance, found that a single buyer would need a salary of €108,000 in Dublin, €101,250 in Wicklow and €100,238 in Kildare to afford a typical first home under its calculations.
That provides useful context for the Leitrim result.
Leitrim may rank near the top of an affordability index, but being one of the more accessible counties does not mean buying a home is easy for every household.
A cheaper market does not remove every barrier
Leitrim’s second-place ranking offers a clear indication of where first-time buyers can find better affordability conditions, but it should not be mistaken for evidence that the county has solved the wider homeownership problem.
The attraction is straightforward: property prices are substantially below those in many parts of the country, while local incomes are high enough relative to those prices to improve the mortgage and deposit equation.
For buyers prepared to live in the county, that can make a significant difference.
The bigger challenge is ensuring that there are enough suitable homes for people who want to make that move.
For Leitrim, the affordability advantage is therefore closely linked to the availability of homes, local employment and the ability of communities to support additional households.
The county’s second-place ranking shows that where you buy can make a major difference to the financial barrier facing a first-time buyer. But it also highlights a wider issue in Ireland’s housing market: the places where homes are relatively affordable are not always the places receiving the largest share of new housing construction.
For prospective buyers, that gap between affordability and availability may be just as important as the headline property price.
