House prices in Ireland grew at an average annual rate of 7.5 per cent in March as ongoing supply shortages, Government incentives to buy and expectations of further interest rate cuts continued to fuel demand.
However, the headline rate was softer than the 8 per cent recorded the previous month and down from the 10.1 per cent recorded last August.
The Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) latest tracker indicated prices in Dublin, where supply pressures are strongest, rose at an annual rate of 6 per cent in March while prices outside the capital were up by 8.7 per cent year-on-year.
[ John McManus: Government can kiss goodbye to its plan for lifting the rent capOpens in new window ]
The median or middle price paid for a home in the 12 months to March was €362,500.
The figures indicated the highest median price for a dwelling was €665,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, while the lowest was €180,000 in Leitrim.
The total value of dwelling purchases by households at market prices filed with Revenue was €1.5 billion in March, the CSO said.
This represents an 11.4 per cent increase compared with the €1.4 billion worth of purchases in February.
The latest increase means property prices nationally have increased by 161.6 per cent from their trough in early 2013.
Dublin residential property prices have risen by 157.6 per cent from their February 2012 low, while residential property prices in the Rest of Ireland are 174 per cent higher than at the trough, which was in May 2013.
Broken down by buyer type, the CSO said of the 49,176 transactions conducted in the 12 months to March, 18,013 (36.6 per cent) were by first time buyer owner-occupiers, while former owner-occupiers purchased 25,844 (52.6 per cent).
The balance of 5,319 (10.8 per cent) were acquired by non-occupiers.
According to the CSO, the level of annualised inflation for new dwellings in the first quarter of 2025 was 4.1 per cent while the average price of an existing dwelling rose by 9.1 per cent year on year in the first quarter.
The CSO’s figures come in the wake of Daft’s latest rental report which indicated that asking or open market rents are now climbing faster than at any point over the past 20 years with the national monthly average surpassing €2,000 for the first time.
Ian Lawlor, managing director of Roundtower Capital, said: “While the rate of house price growth continues to ease slightly, this morning’s report also shows that Irish house prices continue to soar with annual prices up 7.5 per cent.
“Ultimately, unless there’s a significant increase in housing delivery, steep house price and rent inflation will persist and homes will continue to be unaffordable for a large cohort of young people,” he said.
Donal Magee of mortgage start-up Núa Money said: “The latest CSO figures lend weight to what we are seeing on the ground, while price growth has moderated slightly, the accessibility gap to financing is still very real.”
“The thing is, many people have the ability to meet potential mortgage payments, but are still being locked out. Why? Because lenders are applying rigid criteria that haven’t evolved with the modern workforce,” he said.
“If your income doesn’t come in a traditional PAYE package, too often you’re not getting a look in,” he said.
