Although superstition dictates that Friday the 13th, and even the number 13, can be unlucky for some, for property buyers there might be value in such superstition. According to data released from property website Daft.ie, homes at number 13 are typically €4,335 cheaper than the average Irish property.
The Daft research went on to find that since the residential Property Price Register began in 2010, Friday the 13th has occurred 13 times and on those days there were roughly 10 per cent fewer transactions conducted compared with regular Fridays, which are normally the busiest days of the week for transactions.
Paul Lappin of Property Team Lappin Estates in Phibsborough has had the experience of a buyer refusing to close the sale of a house on Friday the 13th, but he and other agents say the number 13 is rarely if ever a factor in the actual sale of a property.
David Byrne of Lisney said they recently went sale agreed on a number 13 house for about 5 per cent above the asking price, while Siobhan Lynam of Lynam Auctioneers has just sold adjoining – near identical – houses, numbers 11 and 13 in Dublin 4, and number 13 achieved about 7per cent more than its neighbour.
Occasionally sellers of a number 13 house might be concerned that it will effect the appeal for buyers, but these concerns can be allayed by simply naming the house instead, says Brian Dempsey of DNG. “It’s really not an issue, but I did have a house recently that was named ‘Doom and Gloom’ where within a six-month period the owner dropped dead on the street, his brother broke his back in an accident and his mother died. In that case I suggested we take the plaque down before trying to sell.”
"We often think of housing markets as being simply about cold laws of supply and demand," says Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft report. "But while these are the top-level forces at work, there are lots of quirks of human behaviour that affect any individual property or transaction."
Daft also analysed people’s perceptions surrounding house numbers and found that nearly one in five would aim to avoid buying a property at number 13. According to David Byrne: “You do get people occasionally who mention in passing they don’t like the number 13, and who don’t buy the house. But equally they might not like the colour yellow.”
