The latest Property Barometer report from website Myhome.ie warns of a "two-tier" market developing between Dublin and the rest of the State.

It shows asking prices are rising in Dublin and flat in Limerick, Galway and Cork cities. They are still falling elsewhere, however, with a national annual rate of decline of 7.8 per cent.

According to the report, which covers the period from July to September, modest increases in prices were recorded in the south and north city regions of Dublin, as well as further out in north Co Dublin and the more affluent southside. In the west of Dublin, however, where frenzied building took place at the height if the boom in areas such as Lucan, asking prices fell by 4.8 per cent.

The median asking price of a house in Cork city remained flat at €195,000, according to the data, but prices across the county fell back by 2.6 per cent.

Waterford performed the worst of the major urban areas, with asking prices dropping by 9 per cent annually, and 3 per cent over the last quarter.

The median asking price for a house in the city now stands at €145,000.

Three-bed semis

The report also contains a county-by-county analysis of the asking prices for a three-bed semi-detached family home.

The cheapest three-bed semis on the market are in Donegal, at a median price of €76,750, almost 64 per cent off their peak. Leitrim (€77,000), Roscommon (€89,000), Longford (€85,000), Monaghan and Laois (both €99,000) all have average family homes available for asking prices of less than €100,000.

After Dublin’s median price of €250,000, Wicklow comes closest with €215,000.