House price inflation has accelerated again, with average values now rising at more than 7 per cent year-on-year.
The latest residential property price index from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicated that prices rose at an average rate of 7.3 per cent in the 12 months to March this year, up from a rate of 6.2 per cent the previous month.
In Dublin, residential values rose at an annual rate of 7.2 per cent in March, while prices outside Dublin were 7.4 per cent higher compared with a year earlier.
This was the seventh consecutive month that headline inflation in the Irish residential market has increased.
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The housing market had slowed last year on the back of 10 interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank (ECB). However, ongoing supply pressures and expectations that the ECB will begin a cycle of rate reductions later this year appear to be driving prices upwards again.
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Prices have also been lifted by the various Government incentive programmes, including the Help to Buy and the First Home schemes, which have fuelled activity among first-time buyers.
The latest figures indicate that residential prices increased by 0.4 per cent month-on-month in March.
According to the CSO, households paid a median or middle value price of €333,000 for a home in March.
The Dublin region had the highest median price (€446,000). Within Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median price (€620,000), while Fingal had the lowest (€410,000).
The highest median prices outside of Dublin were in Wicklow (€445,000) and Kildare (€396,394), while the lowest was €168,000 in Leitrim.
The CSO said there were 3,314 home purchases filed with Revenue in March, almost 20 per cent down on the same month last year and marginally (0.4 per cent) down on the previous month. The total value of transactions filed in March was €1.3 billion.
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“Over the past number of months of the CSO data, we have seen a pattern emerging of price rises around the country,” said Robert Gardiner of estate agent Auctioneera.
“While new home commencements are up recently, to much fanfare from the Government, the second-hand market is still quite slow in terms of supply,” he said.
“First-time buyers, who are out in force at viewings, are making it continually competitive to secure a property. Some of these first-time buyers wish to stay in a specific area, perhaps an area where they’ve grown up, and the lower supply of second-hand homes in typically mature residential areas really makes an impact,” he said.
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